Filipinos ignore evacuation pleas in Libya

Only 200 Filipinos were at the Philippine embassy in Tripoli even as the government prepared to send a chartered ship to ferry Filipinos out of Libya.

Some of the 41 Filipino workers arrive at Ninoy Aquino International airport in Manila on Monday as they flew home from strife-torn Libya at the government's expense. More than 11,000 Filipinos in Libya have ignored appeals to evacuate, with many apparently choosing to take their chances in the war-torn country rather than risk unemployment at home, a foreign department spokesman said. Jay Directo / AFPShow less

MANILA // More than 11,000 Filipinos in Libya have ignored appeals to evacuate, with many apparently choosing to take their chances in the war-torn country rather than risk unemployment at home, a foreign department spokesman said Monday.

Only 200 were at the Philippine embassy in Tripoli even as the government prepares to send a chartered ship to ferry Filipinos out of Libya, spokesman Charles Jose said.

Originally there were 13,000 Filipinos working in Libya but after the government called on them to return, due to the worsening security situation, only “a little more than 1,000” had fled or were waiting to leave, he said.

“So we have 11,000-plus OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) who have not arranged to leave,” Mr Jose said.

“We are hearing that a lot of them would rather take the chance of surviving the war rather than (risking) the uncertainty of not having work here,” he told reporters.

He added that while some might be willing to risk the danger, others, especially those working in the medical field, might be under pressure to stay.

Mr Jose also said Libyan authorities were asking medical workers to stay because their departure would paralyse the health service which is heavily reliant on Filipino personnel.

“It is still their decision whether they would like to come back or stay behind,” he said.

A ferry capable of carrying about 1,500 people would arrive in Libya by Friday to evacuate Filipinos and would return to Malta by Sunday from where they would be flown out, Mr Jose said.

The Philippines has been calling for its nationals to return from Libya, warning that the situation there could deteriorate to the point where they cannot be repatriated.

These calls have grown louder after a Filipino construction worker was abducted and then beheaded by unknown suspects last month and a Filipina nurse was gang raped in Tripoli on Wednesday.

The Philippines previously launched a mass evacuation of its workers in Libya in 2011, when most of the 30,000 Filipinos there left during the violent chaos leading to the toppling of late dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

About 10 million Filipinos work around the world, earning more money in a wide range of skilled and unskilled sectors than they could in their impoverished homeland.

* Agence France-Presse