Labor team off to Libya to aid OFWs

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz (in photo) has approved the deployment to Libya of a two-man contingency team that would augment the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (Polo) staff in Tripoli. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has approved the deployment to Libya of a two-man contingency team that would augment the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (Polo) staff in Tripoli.

“I have approved the composition of the contingency team. Labor Attaché Nasser Mustafa and Welfare Officer Eduardo Mendoza Jr. will travel to Libya mainly to establish a network with overseas Filipino workers and their employers, assess the actual security situation, and recommend a plan of action to facilitate the evacuation of Filipinos when it becomes necessary,” Baldoz said in a statement.

Mustafa and Mendoza were part of the ground team in Libya who helped handle the evacuation of OFWs there during the 2011 Libyan crisis.

Baldoz said the Polo, in coordination with the Philippine Embassy, was closely monitoring the situation in Libya and was coordinating the appropriate action to ensure the safety and welfare of the OFWs there.

“The DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment) augmentation team should form part of the country’s rapid response team in Libya, together with the team from the Department of Foreign Affairs, under the one-country-team approach,” Baldoz said.

POEA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac, chair of the DOLE’s Libya crisis quick response team, had told Baldoz that there had been violent disturbances reported in Benghazi, where a sizeable number of OFWs are deployed.

“Unfortunately, our four Polo personnel in Libya are stationed at the Philippine Embassy command post in Tripoli. The DOLE contingency team will be immediately deployed to Benghazi to beef up the Polo’s presence in Libya’s second-largest city,” Cacdac said.

Cacdac said he would also recommend to Baldoz the deployment of another contingency team composed of Labor Attachés David Des Dicang, Jeffrey Cortazar, Nasser Munder and Ramon Tionloc and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Director Albert Valenciano to identify and visit possible exit points and transit countries to ensure the safe evacuation of the OFWs.–Tina G. Santos