Libyan joins Pinay wife in escape to Manila

MALTA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT – The decision of the Libyan husband of a Filipina teacher at the Tripoli International School to join her and their children for repatriation to the Philippines was a difficult one to make.

It meant choosing his wife and children over his parents and siblings left behind in Tripoli.

Forty-one-year-old Noemi Grace Tabor of Cagayan de Oro, a music teacher, and her husband Farik Farjani, who worked at Brega Petroleum, and their four children – three boys and a girl – initially could not leave the strife-torn nation to join the Philippine government’s repatriation program.

Tabor’s in-laws would not allow them to leave the house they shared in Tripoli. She said their strong family ties and the pain of grandparents not seeing the grandchildren were the reasons her in-laws disapproved of their decision to leave Tripoli.

But when the situation became increasingly dangerous, they finally decided to repatriate. “This is the choice and it’s very painful for us. They were crying,” Tabor told The STAR yesterday morning while waiting here to board the Philippine Air Lines (PAL) flight to Manila chartered by the Philippine government.

Tabor and her family were among the group of 419 Filipinos evacuated from Libya.

Their house in Tripoli was hit left and right by bullets and their neighbor’s house was not spared from rockets.

“Most of the fighters were not trained because they are teenagers,” she said. “It’s no longer safe for the children. It’s not the right place to raise your children.”

Classes in Tripoli were also disrupted and school days were shortened because of the worsening situation.

When she arrived in Tripoli in 2012 with her children, she and her husband were hopeful things would get better with a functioning government after the fall of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

But two weeks ago, she and her husband temporarily moved to her sister-in-law’s house in Zliten, a 45-minute drive from Tripoli, for the safety of their children.

She added that they had to keep from her in-laws their decision to leave Libya and relovate to Cagayan de Oro.

“We had to go there by ourselves. I can’t leave my husband because my daughter has special needs,” she said.

Zliten was the nearest they could think of to proceed to Misrata, where they would board the ship chartered by the Philippine government to fetch the Filipinos in Libya and bring them to Malta for their flight to Manila.

Her husband had to go to the Philippine embassy in Tripoli to apply for a visa so he could join her and their children. Tabor said she has also been coordinating with the Philippine government’s Rapid Response Team (RRT).

Traveling by land, Tabor said they were stopped at checkpoints and would hear armed men and militia saying to let them go because they have children with them.

She said even if her husband is a Libyan national, it was not easy for them to pass checkpoints as everyone was suspected of smuggling firearms.

“My husband is thankful to the Philippine government for bringing Filipinos out of harm and accepting a foreign national like him in the repatriation program,” she said.

The government assured Filipinos and those who have yet to avail themselves of the mandatory repatriation program of the continuing assistance of the Philippine government under the RRT, composed of members from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

Missing Filipino

Meanwhile, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) evacuated from Libya arrived at Malta airport yesterday but went missing before the plane chartered by the Philippine government departed for Manila.

Rodrigo Andres was among the 766 Filipinos from Libya evacuated by sea on a ship from Malta that was chartered by the government.

OWWA officer Mario Antonio said Andres was among the second group of Filipinos to board flight PR 9007 to Manila at 7:30 p.m. (Manila time).

But Maltese airport officials informed Antonio and PAL crewmembers that one passenger was missing.

They said Andres checked in at the airport with his luggage but he did not show up at the immigration.

The crewmembers repeatedly announced Andres’ name over the public address system but he did not respond.

The plane departed 40 minutes behind the schedule without Andres. – Helen Flores, Sheila Crisosotomo