Why Filipinos won’t leave Libya

MANILA, Philippines—With salary increases of as much as 300 percent plus additional work benefits, many overseas Filipino workers have opted to remain in Libya instead of availing themselves of the government-sponsored repatriation program.

This was disclosed on Thursday by Foreign Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Esteban Conejos Jr. in a joint news conference with Vice President Jejomar Binay at the Coconut Palace on Roxas Blvd.

“Most of the more than 1,600 OFWs based in Tripoli and another 700 OFWs who are still in Benghazi are nurses. They have refused to come home,” said Conejos.

The diplomat pointed out that the conflict in the north African country was “now on the third phase.” But he added: “Government efforts are continuing. We will never stop repatriating our workers. If there are OFWs who want to be repatriated, we will repatriate them.”

Asked about the four Filipina domestic helpers working for family members of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, Conejos said the DFA “will have to wait for the formal assumption of the National Transitional Council from Benghazi to Tripoli” before it could work for the repatriation of the women.

A sister of one of the maids, Dianne Rivera, has appealed to Binay and the DFA to help save the troubled OFWs.

For his part, Binay, also the presidential adviser on OFW concerns, said, “We’re assessing (the situation in Libya) on a daily basis.”

Asked if the OFW repatriation program should continue, he said officials were engaged in an “ongoing process of evaluation.”

Between March and August, the government had repatriated close to 10,000 OFWs in Libya, said Conejos.

The Geneva-based International Organization for Migration is arranging a third boat trip out of Libya, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

But so far, only one OFW had signed up for the trip from Tripoli to Benghazi, said the DFA.

DFA Undersecretary Rafael Seguis and personnel of the Philippine embassy in the Libyan capital were “making last-minute calls to OFWs to convince them to join the third batch of evacuees,” said Foreign Affairs spokesperson Raul Hernandez.

IOM director general William Swing, who is in town for a meeting with Binay and DFA officials, told reporters the agency was “not yet finished with the repatriation of migrant workers” from Libya.

“We will continue the operation as long as it is needed … in close liaison with the National Transitional Council in Libya and (in the case of OFWs) with the collaboration of Philippine authorities,” said Swing.

To date, the IOM has facilitated the repatriation of over 200,000 migrant workers from Libya at a cost of $111 million.

The workers “came from at least 46 countries,” Swing added. “More than half of them are from sub-Saharan Africa.”

On Wednesday, 36 OFWs who earlier fled Libya arrived in Manila on board Emirates Airways flight EK 332 from Cairo.

“Thirty-five of the 36 were on board the first boat chartered by the IOM. They earlier disembarked in Benghazi and proceeded to the Egyptian border town of Al Sallum by land and onward to Cairo,” Hernandez said.

The 10 OFWs who reportedly joined the second boat trip last Sunday were on their way to Cairo, where they will take a commercial flight to Manila.

Meanwhile, President Aquino has instructed the DFA to fully implement Alert Level 3 in Syria, where a prodemocracy uprising has left over 2,000 people dead during the past six months.

The President issued the directive before he left for a four-day state visit to China, said Conejos.

“A total of 116 OFWs in Syria are ready to be repatriated to Manila. In the next few days, we’ll bring them back,” he said.

The government has set aside only $550,000 for the repatriation program.

Binay, however, gave assurances that getting additional funding would not be a problem.

The OVP has “backup funds” for the next round of OFW repatriation from Syria, he pointed out.

Syria hosts an estimated 17,000 Filipinos, about 80 percent of whom are domestic helpers. “Ninety percent of the DHs are undocumented. That’s one of our problems,” Conejos said.