Few Filipinos take 'last call' to flee Libya

MANILA, Philippines - Less than 100 Filipino workers have taken the offer to be relocated and repatriated from Libya as the Philippine government's "last call" for the migrant workers to leave the strife-torn country lapses on Thursday.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said today that only 87 Filipino workers have been convinced by Secretary Albert del Rosario and other officials to leave Libya.

The DFA said that Del Rosario fetched 31 Filipino workers, including 10 nurses and their dependents, out of Tripoli through the Tunisian border on Wednesday.

Twenty-three more workers have been evacuated out of the capital city of Tripoli by the group of Ambassador Alejandro Vicente. They will be meeting the 31 Filipino workers in Djerba, Tunisia, from where they will be transported back to the Philippines.

Aside from the two batches, 30 more Filipinos, including 19 students in Tripoli, were due to arrive in Djerba on Thursday.

The DFA also reported that only 3 Filipinos in Benghazi have agreed to be repatriated. They are now at the As Sallum border, where they were met with a team from the Philippine Embassy in Cairo.

Ambassador Ricardo Endaya is also in Tobruk to look for Filipinos who may have fled Benghazi through the border.

The DFA said that at least 1,600 Filipinos, half of which are nurses and their dependents in Tripoli, have refused to be evacuated. More than 100 professors have also opted to remain in the country, the DFA added.

The government made the "last call" for Filipinos to leave Libya after the United Nations Security Council gave a go signal for Allied Forces to conduct air strikes against the forces of Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi.

Gadhafi has continued to resist calls to step down despite pressure from the UN.

'No work waiting in Phl'

In a press release, the DFA quoted a Filipino community leader as saying that majority of those who opted to remain in Libya did not want to return because of the lack of available jobs in the Philippines.

Some of the Filipino workers, who are receiving P160,000 to P200,000 in monthly salary in Libya, were also promised increase in their salaries. The others, meanwhile, were threatened to lose entitlement to gratuity pay equivalent to one full month's salary if they abruptly leave the strife-torn country, the DFA added.

A nurse was also quoted by the DFA as saying that their employers are giving them ample protection and taking care of their needs.

Del Rosario, meanwhile, promised to work on how the Filipinos can send money to their families in the Philippines. He said that the Filipino workers may be able to remit money through the Philippine Embassy, whose personnel have been ordered to stay put to take care of the Filipinos needs.

Del Rosario said that he has also asked Undersecretary Rafael Seguis to also remain in Libya to handle the remittance issue and supervise the last-minute repatriation of Filipinos.