MANILA, Philippines — Thirteen more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were repatriated from Libya’s capital Tripoli amid the continued violence there, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Sunday.
Chargé d’Affaires Elmer Cato said the OFWs, who worked in a carpet factory in Tripoli, were evacuated to Misrata.
With the evacuation of the OFWs, the total number of Filipinos who opted to be repatriated from Tripoli has climbed to 32.
Of this number, 19 have already been repatriated to the Philippines.
Thirteen Filipino carpet factory workers displaced by the fighting in Tripoli were repatriated by their employer via Misrata this afternoon. This brings to 32 the number of Filipinos repatriated from Tripoli since fighting began on 4 April . @teddyboylocsin @PhinLibya @DFAPHL pic.twitter.com/W5bU647kfy
— Elmer G Cato (@elmer_cato) April 27, 2019
Cato earlier said the Philippine Embassy is doubling its efforts to convince the more than 1,000 Filipinos who are still in Tripoli.
Two Filipinos have also sustained injuries due to hostilities in the North African country.
Repatriation assistance
In a message on Twitter, Cato told INQUIRER.net that the DFA shoulders the airfare and meals of repatriated Filipinos, as well as accommodation as they await their flight back home.
Labor secretary Silvestre Bello III, meanwhile, said the labor department will help the repatriated Filipinos seek for job opportunities in the Philippines and abroad.
“We will help them in getting alternative employment opportunities, especially that most OFWs coming from Libya are nurses and medical workers and we have a market for them in Germany, and in Israel where they need a lot of caregivers and health workers,” Bello said in a separate phone interview with INQUIRER.net.
Cash assistance worth P20,000 on top of the entrepreneurial assistance, if they decide to start a business here, will also be provided.
Alert level III is currently raised in Tripoli and several districts in Libya in the wake of the continuing violence near the country’s capital. /je