By Charmaine A. Tadalan, Reporter
A TOTAL of 19 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have been repatriated from conflict-affected areas in Libya, according to the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli.
The most recent evacuation by the Embassy, in coordination with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Department of Labor and Employment involved eight Filipinos.
“This morning, the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli evacuated eight more Filipinos who decided to accept its offer to bring them home,” the Embassy reported in a social media post Thursday.
“This brings to 19 the total number of Filipinos repatriated so far,” it added.
Chargé d’ Affaires (CDA) Elmer G. Cato said the eight Filipinos are already en route to the Philippines. “They will be boarding their flight to Manila in a few hours,” he said in a separate post, Thursday.
The group included warehouse worker Roland Torres, who was wounded by a rocket explosion in front of his apartment, in a residential area where over 200 Filipinos are staying.
The Embassy said it has sought families in the Philippines to convince their relatives in Libya to submit to its repatriation offer.
The DFA on Wednesday also appealed to more than 1,000 Filipinos in Tripoli to “have themselves repatriated after another Filipino was wounded in intense fighting outside the Libyan capital.”
“In addition to online appeals to telephone calls, the Embassy said CDA Cato and Labor Attache Adam Musa are visiting Filipinos in their work places to convince them to request repatriation before the situation in Tripoli further deteriorates,” Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Emmanuel R. Fernandez said in a statement Wednesday.
