DFA: Very few OFWs in Libya heeded call for repatriation
Department of Foreign Affairs building. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) lamented the small number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have signed up for evacuation despite the arrangements already in place for them to leave the country.
“Only a few have heeded our call [for repatriation]. Out of the 12,000 remaining Filipinos only around 1,000 have registered for the sea evacuation, which means there are still 11,000 who have not registered,” DFA spokesman Charles Jose said in a press briefing Wednesday.
“Although the number of registrants is about 1,036, the actual number of OFWs who will board is what we don’t know yet,” he said.
In a previous interview, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said that during the 2011 evacuation from Libya, as much as 2,300 signed up to be repatriated by ship but only around 700 actually embarked.
Since the implementation of mandatory repatriation in Libya last July 2014, around 1,000 have already returned to the country.
The Philippine government has rented a 1,500-capacity ship at a cost of $1.8 million from Malta to dock at the two major cities of Benghazi and Misrata to evacuate OFWs by sea.
“There are 436 OFWs registered in Benghazi and surrounding areas and 602 from Misrata,” Jose said.
“In Tripoli there are 599 who signed up but they’ll be evacuated by land because the border with Tunisia has reopened,” he said.
The ship is expected to arrive around 9 or 10 am of August 10 at Benghazi. There will be a 5-hour boarding time after which it will sail for Misrata.
On August 11, the ship is expected to arrive around 9 or 10 am in Misrata where it will also have a 5-hour boarding time.
The ship will then sail back to Malta arriving on August 12.
“After docking, the OFWs will be transported directly to airport for their flight back to the Philippines,” Jose said.
Libya is on the verge of civil war as rival militias battle each other for control of territory amid weak government control.
The situation in the country has been unstable since the fall of dictator Muammar Gaddhafi in 2011 after being in power for four decades.
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