A team from the Department of Foreign Affairs assists three Libya-based Filipinos who boarded a flight to Manila in Tunisia Thursday. The DFA said four Filipino students are also returning home to escape tension in Libya. (Photo by DFA)
MANILA, Philippines — Four Filipino students being repatriated from strife-torn Libya are now on their way back to Manila, Chargé d’Affaires Elmer Cato said Friday.
In a Twitter update, Cato said that the four Filipino students will be accompanied by a team from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on their flight from Tunisia to Manila.
“Four Filipino students evacuated by [the Philippine Embassy in LIbya] from Tripoli on Wednesday have just departed Tunis for Manila,” he said.
“The four are among the first seven Filipinos to leave Libya. They were repatriated by a [DFA] team stationed in Tunisia,” he added.
Four Filipino students evacuated by @PhinLibya from Tripoli on Wednesday have just departed Tunis for Manila. The four are among the first seven Filipinos to leave Libya. They were repatriated by a @DFAPHL team stationed in Tunisia. @teddyboylocsin pic.twitter.com/XibCuGlDvJ
— Elmer G Cato (@elmer_cato) April 19, 2019
The tree other Filipinos boarded a flight to Manila the other day.
Even though some Filipinos availed of the government’s repatriation offer, most overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) opted to stay in the conflict-stricken north African country.
READ: DFA to repatriate first batch of OFWs from Libya
In a separate Facebook post, Cato said that Filipinos in Tripoli “keep telling us they will not leave even if the intense fighting in the outskirts reaches the capital.”
READ: DFA to Libya OFWs: Leave now before it’s too late…
He further noted that the Philippine’s foreign service team in Tripoli “has been calling Filipinos in areas in and near where the fighting has been taking place to check on them and assure them we are still here and are ready to bring them home if they want us to.” /gsg