13 more OFWs from Libya cross into Egypt

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Thursday reported 13 more overseas Filipino workers (OFW) from conflict-ridden Libya have entered Egypt and are on their way to Cairo.

In a text message, DFA spokesperson Ed Malaya said the 13 are on their way to the Filipino Workers Resource Center in Cairo.

They will join Engr. Judith Tuvera, the first Filipino who crossed the Libyan-Egypt border late Wednesday.

The DFA earlier said it expects 24 more OFWs to cross from Tobruk in Libta to Alexandria in Egypt this Thursday.

A six-man team from the DFA in Manila, led by executive director Ricardo Endaya of the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA), arrived Thursday in Tripoli to assist Filipinos who are availing themselves of the voluntary repatriation program being implemented by the DFA and the Philippines embassy in the strife-torn country.

Also, a team from the Philippine embassy in Cairo, led by Consul General Renato Duenas Jr., is manning a command post at the border Egypt-Libya border to help Filipinos who will be exiting Libya from Benghazi, Al Baida, and nearby areas, according to a DFA release.

A third team, led by DFA-OUMWA principal assistant Melvin Almonguera, also arrived Tunisia-Egypt border at 5 p.m. (Manila time), according to the DFA, for Filipinos who will be exiting from the Libyan capital Tripoli and nearby areas.

The Philippine embassy in Tripoli has activated relocation sites in Tripoli and Benghazi for the Filipinos, including those from the Philippine School and the St. Francis Catholic Church in Tripoli, and the two Philippine Schools in Benghazi, the DFA said,

The repatriates from Tripoli will go to Tunis in Tunisia, and those from Benghazi and Al Baida will flee to Alexandria in Egypt by land. From there, they will catch flights to Manila.


Employers abandon OFWs

There are OFWs that have been abandoned in their campsites by Libyan and non-Libyan employers, and are now pleading for help from the Philippine embassy in Tripoli, according to an alliance of Filipino migrants’ rights group in the Middle East. The relatives of some of those workers are holding talks with the DFA in Manila.

John Leonard Monterona, regional coordinator of Migrante-Middle East, said he has received reports that some 145 OFWs are stranded inside the Al Nahar campsite in Nalut, near the border of Algeria and Tunisia and about 400 km from Tripoli.

Some 200 OFWs meanwhile are trapped in a campsite in Senawin, according to the coordinator, citing reports from Migrante’s Libya coordinator, Gil Lebria, who is among those trapped in Al Nahar.

In southeast Libay’s Kufra, bordering Egypt and Sudan, Monterona said there are about 100 OFWs who have been abandoned by their employer.

“Reports reaching us (indicate the OFWs) have been abandoned by their employers. With them are fellow migrant workers such as Thais, Viets, Bangladeshis and Chadians," Monterona said.

Also late Wednesday, Migrante said it received reports that armed men entered the camps in Al Nahar and Senawin and fired warnings shots at the gates. The armed men supposedly took with them company cars but and left the workers unharmed.

“In our assessment based on the reports we are receiving from our fellow OFWs in Libya for the past 3 days, the situation there is worst than in Egypt, Bahrain and Yemen, (with) looting, indiscriminate firing from Libyan government forces, and clashes swiftly spreading from Benghazi to Tripoli," Monterona said.

Migrante is urging the Philippine government to institute forced or compulsory evacuation in Libya, instead of voluntary repatriation, to save Filipinos from getting hurt in the highly volatile situation. (report from Jerrie M. Abella/VS, GMA News)