10,000 MORE PINOYS ESCAPED FROM LYBIA, TRANSPORT TO HOME IN STAGES
MANILA, MARCH 2, 2011 (STAR) By Mayen Jaymalin [Photo is loading... Filipino workers stand inside a cargo area as they wait to be evacuated at a port in the city of Benghazi, Libya yesterday. AP]
MANILA, Philippines - About 10,000 more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have escaped Libya, with 3,544 expecting repatriation to Manila in the next few days, according to Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz.
"Arrangements for the transportation to the Philippines of the 3,544 OFWs are now in various stages," Baldoz noted.
She said another batch of 1,546 Filipinos was scheduled to board the chartered ferry Ionian Queen from Benghazi, Libya to Crete where they would be boarding flights to the Philippine in batches.
Baldoz reported that there are over 4,000 Filipinos awaiting evacuation from Libya.
Since Saturday, Baldoz said, a total of 612 OFWs have already returned home from Libya. Of the number, 172 arrived home yesterday on different commercial flights.
Baldoz said they would only release the names of repatriated workers upon their arrival in Manila to avoid confusion, as there have been cases of some workers changing their minds at the last minute and opting to stay in the troubled North African state.
She said a number of those who registered for the ferry ride to Crete eventually chose to stay and joined their employers, who assured Philippine officials that they would take responsibility for evacuating them if the need arises.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) sources said more Filipinos have been requesting the government for immediate repatriation because many employers are incapable of helping them.
"Company-initiated evacuation and repatriation continues, although there are some companies that have no capability to do so. For these companies, we are trying to get as much information as to the names and location of the workers," she explained.
She said the Philippine government would run after foreign employers and recruiters who abandoned their workers in Libya and require them to pay the repatriation cost of the workers.
For OFWs who are reportedly trapped in Libya and not getting any assistance from the government, Baldoz called on their families or groups who have information on their location to report the matter to the DOLE.
Baldoz said the government is exerting all efforts to get as much support from various sectors in getting transportation to move Filipinos out of Libya.
Philippine Airlines, she said, has expressed willingness to help, but has yet to secure landing rights. She said the government has opted to charter international airlines which already have landing rights.
Baldoz also said the government has deployed 60 more personnel to different Middle East countries to monitor the situation in the region. She added that no new deployment ban has been imposed despite the unrest in some parts of the Middle East.
Praises for new DFA chief
Sen. Lito Lapid, meanwhile, praised acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario "for personally leading repatriation efforts for thousands of Filipinos in strife-torn Libya."
"Secretary Del Rosario's heroic act of going into harm's way and personally bringing to safety more than 400 Filipino workers goes to show that the Philippine government has been exerting serious efforts to rescue our kababayans displaced by the ongoing political crisis in Libya," Lapid said.
"President Aquino made the right choice in appointing Secretary Del Rosario," he said. "We need more Albert del Rosarios in government," he added.
Lapid cited reports on Del Rosario leading a 55-vehicle convoy from Tripoli to the border region of Jerba in Tunisia where the evacuated Filipinos were processed for repatriation to Manila.
Del Rosario, a businessman and former ambassador to the United States, quietly left for Tunisia on Friday, a day after being sworn in by President Aquino. Despite obvious dangers, he proceeded by land from Tunisia to the Philippine embassy in Tripoli where he oversaw the entire repatriation effort, Lapid noted.
He traveled overland to Tunisia with Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos Jr., an embassy officer and a driver.
"We're on top of the situation in Libya. We're fully deployed and we have a strategy," Del Rosario said over the phone from Djerba, Tunisia.
Lapid said that while he shared the concerns of the families of Filipinos still awaiting rescue in Libya, he also understood the constraints concerned officials and personnel faced in carrying out their tasks.
"Filipino diplomats were doing the best they possibly could to assist Filipinos in Libya despite the limited resources they have at their disposal as well as the volatile security situation on the ground," he said.
Exchanging dinar
In anticipation of a surge of OFWs returning from Libya, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is looking for ways to help them exchange their Libyan dinars.
"We are just finalizing the working banking arrangements. We will be making a formal announcement on how we can exchange Libyan dinars from our returning overseas Filipinos shortly," BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said.
There are about 26,000 Filipinos in Libya.
There are only 16 foreign currencies convertible with the BSP, including the US dollar, Japanese yen, British pound, Hong Kong dollar, Swiss franc, Canadian dollar, Singapore dollar, Australian dollar, Bahrain dinar, Kuwait dinar, Saudi Arabian rial, Brunei dollar, Indonesian rupiah, Thai baht, the United Arab Emirates' dirham, the European Monetary Union's euro, the Chinese yuan, and the Korean won.
Monetary authorities are closely monitoring developments in the Middle East as countries in the region account for about 16 percent of remittances from OFWs.
BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo earlier said the growing unrest in Libya and in some countries in the Middle East could have negative impact on OFW remittances and on exports.
"We do not expect serious impact at this point but we are monitoring the situation, considering the bulk of remittances actually come from Middle East but we will continue to monitor situation," Guinigundo stressed.
OFW remittances grew by 8.2 percent to a record $18.76 billion last year from $17.35 billion in 2009 due to the continued demand for skilled Filipino workers abroad as well as the expansion of remittance centers in foreign countries.
Remittances from the Middle East posted a double-digit growth of 11.2 percent to $2.96 billion last year from $2.66 billion in 2009.
This year, the BSP sees OFW remittances growing by another 8 percent and breaching the $20-billion level to hit a new record high amid the strong demand for skilled land-based and sea-based Filipino workers abroad.
More than half of the remittances or $1.644 billion came from Saudi Arabia, followed by the United Arab Emirates with $776.3 million, Qatar with $248.8 million, Bahrain with $167.28 million, Kuwait with $106.5 million, Israel with $67.3 million, Oman with $66.76 million.
Meanwhile, Vice President Jejomar Binay canceled his trip to Egypt after being advised by Charge d'Affaires Eduardo Pablo Maglaya that the new government might not be in a position to receive a foreign dignitary of his rank. With Lawrence Agcaoili, Pia Lee-Brago, Christina Mendez, Ding Cervantes
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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