40 OFWs in war-torn Libya decline DFA's repatriation offer

Some 40 Filipino nurses and engineers in war-torn Tripoli in Libya have continued to ignore government's appeal for evacuation amid escalating civil war in the North African country.

GMA News' Luisito Santos reported Friday on Super Radyo dzBB that the Department of Foreign Affairs office in Libya offered the 40 nurses and engineers its repatriation program, but they declined the offer.

According to the DFA, the OFWs assured Philippine foreign officials that they are still safe in the Libyan capital Tripoli, which is the center of a raging civil war.

Records of the Philippine foreign office show there are 2,000 Filipinos in Libya, half of them are working in Tripoli and nearby districts. 

Since the DFA raised last month to alert level 4 (mandatory evacuation) the situation in Tripoli, only 55 OFWs have availed of the government's repatriation program, and have already returned home.

Earlier, Chargè d’Affaires of the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad Elmer Cato was quoted as saying that some OFWs in Libya have chosen to stay despite the danger because they are earning good income.

Most of those who ignore the mandatory evacuation are nurses working in hospitals.

But, Cato said that the government would continue to encourage Filipinos to go home for their safety. —LBG, GMA News