Palace Renews Call for 4,000 Filipinos Still in Libya to Return Home
Libya foreign workers wait to evacuate. AFP FILE PHOTO
MANILA – Malacañang on Saturday reiterated the call to remaining overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in conflict-stricken Libya to avail of the mandatory repatriation program of the government and return home as soon as possible.
Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said the Department of Foreign Affairs had been repeatedly making the call for immediate evacuation since it raised Crisis Alert Level 4 in Libya July last year.
“When the situation in Libya started to become volatile, 13,000 po ang Filipinos na nandoon (were there). So far, ang nasa bilang po natin ngayon, 4,000 po ang natitira (from our count, 4,000 are still left there),” Undersecretary Valte said.
“That’s why we’ve been repeatedly making the call to please come home because iba na po ang nagiging sitwasyon doon (the situation has changed),” she said during an interview on government-run radio station dzRB Radyo ng Bayan on Saturday.
The Palace official said some 4,000 OFWs were still in Libya and efforts to repatriate them had become more difficult.
“Ngayon, nahihirapan na rin ang gobyerno doon sa logistics, kasi wala na ang mga commercial flights na papasok unlike before. Talagang mas masalimuot na ngayon ang proseso ng paglalabas sa kanila,” Valte said.
(“Now, the government is finding it difficult to handle the logistics because no more commercial flights go there unlike before. The process of extracting them is more complicated.”)
“Kaya patuloy po nating sinusuportahan ang ating foreign affairs department kapag sinasabi po nila doon sa mga natitira pa hong 4,000 Pilipino doon na huwag po nating isaalang-alang ang ating kaligtasan. At importante pong ligtas sila para makasama ang kanilang mga mahal sa buhay,” she said.
(“We continue to support our foreign affairs department when they say that about 4,000 Filipinos whose safety we should not risk are still there. It is important to save them so that they can be with their loved ones.”)
Valte also urged families of the OFWs in Libya to convince their loved ones to heed the government’s call for immediate evacuation as it is no longer safe for Filipino workers to remain in the conflict-striken country.
“Hopefully, mas maraming mag-avail ng repatriation operations natin doon kasi (more will avail of the repatriation operations there because) again, the challenges become greater as the days pass. Hopefully, talagang mas marami na ang matuto (more will learn),” she said.