MORE OFWs DUE FROM LYBIA THE NEXT FEW DAYS
[PHOTO COURTESY OF MALAYA BUSINESS INSIGHTS - Back home. Jesus Roz, an OFW repatriated from Libya, embraces his family at the NAIA. Around 58 Filipinos have been evacuated in light of the raging political crisis in Libya]
MANILA, FEBRUARY 28, 2011 (STAR) By Mayen Jaymalin - More overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have been evacuated from Benghazi, Libya and are expected to arrive home in the next few days, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said yesterday.
Last Saturday night, 120 OFWs arrived in Manila from Libya while yesterday, another 153, including those who worked as waitresses, chefs, front desk officers and customer service personnel, came home.
"We are expecting the arrival of a bigger batch of OFWs in the coming days," Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said.
She said close to 2,000 OFWs have been safely moved out of Libya as of Saturday night, with the help of their foreign employers.
"Reports received by our office from the different Philippine posts indicate that there are a total of 1,860 OFWs in various locations such as Egypt, Spain, Tunisia, and Turkey awaiting their flights back home," Baldoz said.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario also said yesterday that some 130 Filipinos have crossed the Libyan-Tunisian border at Ras al-Jedir.
A DFA team received the OFWs at the border and have made arrangements for their flight home, Del Rosario said.
The DOLE Middle East Crisis Monitoring Group reported to Baldoz that 236 are being evacuated outside Libya en route to Madrid while 1,503 OFWs are currently registered for repatriation at the Philippine embassy in Tripoli.
Baldoz said 36 of those evacuated from Libya are scheduled to return home on March 2 on board Qatar Airways. The OFWs are employees of Korean firm Hanil Engineering and Construction.
She added that about 200 are also expected to arrive in the coming days.
The arriving OFWs, Baldoz said, are part of the 1,600-strong workers of SNC Lavalin in Benghazi, who have been escorted by Libyan nationals out of Libya to the border of Egypt.
According to Baldoz, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration would provide assistance, including transportation, to those who will go home to their provinces.
She also said that the National Reintegration Center for OFWs is ready to lend assistance to the overseas workers once they have settled after suffering the ordeal of getting trapped in civil strife-torn Libya. - With Pia Lee-Brago, Rudy Santos
----------------------------------------------------------
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
----------------------------------------------------------
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------
