Gov't condemns abduction of Filipino in Libya

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The government condemned today the abduction and rape of a Filipino female nurse in strife-torn Libya.

"We condemn the crime that happened against one of our people there," Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said at a press briefing in Malacanang, the presidential palace.

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has said that four Libyan youths allegedly seized on Wednesday a Filipino nurse in front of her house and after two hours, she was released after allegedly being raped.

Prior to this, a Filipino construction worker was also beheaded by militants.

"We continue to encourage the Filipinos in Libya to follow the mandatory evacuation," Coloma said, adding the DFA has also set up quick response teams to help the evacuation of Filipinos from Libya.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario will fly to Tunisia today night to oversee from there the emergency evacuation of around 13,000 Filipino workers from Libya, the DFA said today.

"We are in the process of engaging ships from Malta that would pick up our people from Benghazi, Misurata and hopefully Tripoli, then return to Malta for air transport to Manila," Del Rosario said. "It's still being negotiated."

The ship can accommodate up to 1,500 evacuees, he said.

If the Philippine government has difficulty in moving Filipinos out of Tripoli by sea, Del Rosario said: "we will revert to exiting by land transport for Djerba where flight connections will be arranged."

The Philippine government raised Crisis Alert to Level 4, the highest security warning which calls for mandatory repatriation of Filipinos in Libya after the beheading.