DFA to bring home all Pinoys from Libya by Saturday

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino workers will be evacuated from the coastal cities of Libya by Saturday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.

Acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said they have set a deadline to get people out by weekend.

“It’s our target to get everyone out,” he said.

Del Rosario said almost 1,290 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have boarded a government-chartered ship.

However, some of the Filipinos changed their mind about going to the rebel-held eastern area by the coast of Benghazi, he added.

The DFA said the MV Ionian Queen, chartered by the Philippine government, evacuated 1,290 Filipinos and their families from the port city of Benghazi.

The Cyprus-flagged, Greek-owned vessel docked at Benghazi’s Port of Gulani Tuesday afternoon and departed at 1 a.m. Wednesday for the island of Crete, the DFA added.

The DFA said the vessel, which has a capacity of 1,725 passengers, took on board all those who have expressed desire to be repatriated.

Conditions have somewhat normalized in Benghazi, and banks and shops have opened and police are back in the streets, the DFA added.

The DFA said Ionian Queen was expected to arrive yesterday in Crete at 2 p.m.

A DFA reception team in Crete has made arrangements for the Filipinos, including food and accommodations, the DFA added.

Four days ago, some 3,000 Filipinos in and around Benghazi airport left in five batches for Egypt through employer-sponsored vehicle convoys, according to Teresita Trabolsi, a long-time resident and Filipino community leader in Benghazi.

During their stay in Benghazi airport, food was provided by the company owned by the son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. They are now in Egypt.

Some 9,231 Filipinos have been evacuated from Libya. Of these, some 859 have arrived home.

Recently, 145 Filipinos reached Ankara, Turkey. Another 142 arrived in Malta on board various vessels. An additional 200 Filipinos are already in Malta after being brought there by an employer-chartered vessel.

Some 730 Filipinos are also now in Tunisia, after traveling in a 53-vehicle convoy from Tripoli.

In Egypt, the Philippine embassy said 1,400 Filipinos have crossed the Libyan-Egyptian border. They will be flown to Manila on chartered planes.

Three chartered flights have flown out of Djerba Airport carrying a total of 538 passengers.

The Filipinos have been brought to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, where they will take commercial flights to Manila.

A total of 358 Filipinos were scheduled to be flown out of Djerba to Dubai yesterday.

The DFA said two employer-chartered flights carrying 366 OFWs were expected to arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) last night.

Apart from the embassies near Libya, the DFA teams and other embassies and consulates are in full relocation and repatriation mode, continuing their efforts to assist Filipinos transiting their areas on the way to the Philippines.

In Manila, the DFA Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs continues to attend to families of Filipinos in Libya, briefing them about the government’s measures being undertaken and in place.

There are 24-hour landline numbers available for families of Filipinos based in Libya – 834-4580, 834-3245, 834-3240, and 834-4646.

In cooperation with SMART Communications and Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) Co., a 24-hour “Libreng Tawag” facility is also activated at the DFA, where the families of Filipinos can call their relatives in Libya.

Families may also e-mail their requests and concerns through the DFA Crisis Management Center’s e-mail address [email protected].

In an effort to fast-track the issuance of passports of a number of Filipino repatriates who left Libya without passports in view of the volatile situation there, the DFA Office of Consular Affairs has also designated special lanes for them in its main passport office, its 19 regional consular offices and its Passport Extension Office at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

The Filipino repatriates from Libya may appear personally at these special lanes and present the most basic identification and the travel documents issued to them by Philippine Foreign Service posts.

First batch

The first batch of 186 overseas Filipino workers evacuated from Libya arrived home on board a chartered flight yesterday afternoon.

Del Rosario picked them up from Tunisia and ferried them home with a stopover in Hong Kong.

Of the 26,000 Filipinos in Libya, 13,000 opted to stay, according to administrator Carmelita Dimzon of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

“One will arrive at 7:40 p.m. carrying some 180 passengers and another one will carry 140 OFWs who were evacuated from Libya to Tunisia.”

Vilma Guillemer, a 40-year-old midwife with a German employer in Tripoli, said Tunisians helped women and children climb the eight-foot wall on the Tunisian border. – Pia Lee-Brago, Rudy Santos, Mayen Jaymalin