FILIPINO workers in Libya have the option to stay or volunteer to be repatriated if they fear for their lives, as the security situation in Libya remains fragile, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Wednesday.
There are around 2,300 Filipinos working in Libya and most of them are already “veterans” of conflict and would rather stay, the DFA said.
The DFA has in effect made changes on its two advisories for Filipinos living in Tripoli and outside Tripoli. Since 2019, Filipino workers living within the 100-kilometer radius of Tripoli were ordered to evacuate Libya (Alert Level 4). For those living outside Tripoli, Filipinos were just told to remain on alert and prepare for calls for possible evacuation (Alert Level 2).
Now, the DFA placed the entire country under single Crisis Alert Level 3, which is voluntary repatriation.
“The decision was made on the observation that, while the political and security conditions in Libya remain fragile, there have been significant improvements in the country since 2019,” the DFA said in a statement.
Also, the OFWs perceive the country as “safe and secure,” the DFA said.
“This perception of safety is grounded on the fact that most of the OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) remaining in Libya are veterans of conflict, having survived the civil wars of 2011 and 2014-2020, and the fight with the Daesh that accompanied the civil wars, and have thus adapted to the instability in the country,” the DFA added.
The main concern of some OFWs were the pending labor issues they have with their employer.
The Philippine Embassy in Tripoli reported that the pending labor issues have decreased from 411 in 2022 to 305 as of June 2023. The Embassy resolved these labor cases by going to job sites and holding dialogues among OFWs, their employers and Libyan authorities.
There is no Migrant Workers Office (MWO) in Tripoli, and the Philippine consul general has been monitoring and responding to appeals of assistance from OFWs in Lebanon.
“In the absence of a resident Migrant Workers Office (MWO) in Tripoli, the DFA, will continue to monitor the situation and be responsible for responding to appeals for assistance of Filipinos working and residing in Libya,” it said.
With the updated Crisis Alert Level 3 in Libya, DFA hopes that Tripoli would be able to resolve the pending labor issues of OFWs.
If the labor issues are resolved, it “would consequently bring about the condition for the gradual relaxation of the deployment ban through selective deployment,” the DFA said.
Since 2019, Libya is besieged with “localized, sporadic and targeted at combatants” but these are features of low-intensity conflicts and no longer large-scale civil war, the DFA said.
“It is noted that Libya, despite the political divide between the east and the west, is currently not under a full-blown external attack from both sides,” it said, explaining the rationale for the change of contingency level.
Image credits: AP
DFA lowers alert level for OFWs, says repatriation now ‘voluntary’
Source: News Paper Radio
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