MANILA, Philippines – The top Philippine diplomat in Libya has signed the exemption certificates that will allow Filipino workers in other parts of that country not affected by fighting to go to their homes there and return to their work places.
In a Facebook post late Wednesday, Chargé d’Affaires Elmer Cato noted that the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli has earlier modified the alert levels 3 and 4.
“Under the modified Alert Level III and IV that the Embassy formulated, only Tripoli and other areas within a 100-kilometer radius of it will be covered by a total deployment ban,” he wrote on Facebook.
“Filipinos working in Benghazi and other areas where no fighting is taking place are not covered by the restrictions that used to be automatically imposed on the entire country once the alert levels are raised,” he added.
Cato pointed out that with the said exemption, “we minimize the impact on our kababayan (fellow Filipinos) who have to endure so many hardships just to be able to provide for their families back home.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) raised Alert Level 3 in the Libyan capital and surrounding districts on April 8 due to the escalating violence there.
On May 1, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. elevated the alert level to 4, or mandatory repatriation.
READ: DFA tells Filipinos in Tripoli, nearby areas: Leave now
Cato told INQUIRER.net that the Alert Level III declaration in April “already followed a modified formulation.”
He added that the he affixed his signature to 261 exemption certificates. /gsg