P500 million allotted for repatriation

MANILA, Philippines - The government is allotting at least P500 million for the repatriation of thousands of Filipinos trapped in strife-torn Libya.

Zambales Rep. Mitos Magsaysay told a news conference that Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz relayed this information yesterday to the House committee on overseas workers’ affairs.

“We were told that the money would come from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), which has a P12-billion trust fund. The P500 million will be an initial fund,” Magsaysay said.

“This should expedite the repatriation of our workers in Libya by land, sea and air. Our workers want to go home and have been crying for help,” she said.

Diplomatic personnel helping in the return of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have complained of lack of funds.

Acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario is leading the repatriation efforts.

The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) is also coordinating with the International Committee on Red Cross and other international partners to help restore links of Filipino workers trapped in Libya with their families.

PRC chairman Richard Gordon said they have also dispatched first aiders and social workers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to assist the repatriated OFWs from Libya.

PRC secretary-general Gwendolyn Pang said the social workers were also tasked to conduct stress debriefing among the OFWs and their families to help them cope with their ordeal.

“The PRC has set up welfare desks in the 98 Red Cross chapters nationwide and other strategic areas in Metro Manila to help restore family links with OFWs and attend to their other concerns,” Pang added.

In a statement read to the media for the House minority bloc, Magsaysay criticized the Aquino administration for “utterly lacking in urgency and foresight in handling the current Middle East turmoil.”

“For more than a month since Egypt began seething, there was more effort and attention given to less urgent concerns than assessing the situation in various Arab states and readying possible evacuation plans,” Magsaysay said.

“Why was the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) looking for an evacuation ship only last week?” she asked.

The minority, to which former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo belongs, praised her for acting promptly on any situation that endangered Filipino workers in the Middle East.

“Back in 2002, the previous administration faced not just internal unrest but a full-scale war in Iraq. Yet, with ample planning and funds, including the immediate release of more than P300 million, the government managed to secure and evacuate thousands of our OFWs,” Magsaysay said, reading the minority statement.

“Our OFWs in Taiwan are also suffering from another administration foul-up. After mistakenly sending Taiwan nationals to China despite a court order to produce the deportees, the Palace is refusing to acknowledge its error and letting Filipinos working or applying to work in Taiwan pay the price,” she said.

“We in the minority call for a legislative inquiry into this mess, which some reports attribute to orders from Malacañang. We must find out what went wrong and how the Palace, the Bureau of Immigration, NBI, and DFA bungled such a volatile matter like this,” Magsaysay added.

The National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) also urged President Aquino to immediately extend assistance to the Filipino workers who remain trapped in Libya.

“We demand a more resolute and speedy action from our government. A missionary in Libya has informed us that our government’s response is sluggish,” NCCP general-secretary Rev. Rex RB Reyes Jr. said.

The NCCP expressed concern over the deteriorating situation in Libya where the remainder of the estimated 30,000 Filipino workers in the Northern African country had been caught in the middle of a violent political conflict.

“We grieve with the families who have lost their relatives. We stand with those anxious over their loved ones, uncertain as we all are of their whereabouts and situation. We are glad for those who have arrived safely home,” the NCCP said. – With Sheila Crisostomo, Evelyn Macairan