The Philippine government has set aside 100M pesos ( $2.3M) USD to lease planes for the OFWs' from Libya.
Most of the OFWs' working in Libya are from the medical and oil and gas sectors, with almost or more than 30,000 total OFWs' ( census defers from Red cross to DFA) according to GMA news the Philippine government was making preparation to repatriate half of the 26,000 Filipinos.
As the evacuation started, OFWs' arrived in Manila by batches but in few numbers. three batches came and two more batch to arrive later tonight. OFWs'came home aboard Cathay Pacific, Guf Air, and Singapore Air flights.
Some of them arrived from the support of their employer and by other means. Other foreign companies helped Filipinos as they moved out of Libya. Repsol petroleum of Spain has helped 16 Filipinos and are now safe ready to depart to Philippines.
However, there are still OFWs' stranded in the remote part of Libyan desert. An email sent by one of the 100 OFWs' stranded in the worksite in Amal oil field in Libya. He mentioned that no support yet from the goverment as they await for some response from the DFA and the Philippine embassy.
Certainly the set a side budget is not enough to repatriate all Filipinos from Libya. As the Family members of the stranded OFWs' apprehension increases the more pressure from DFA and the Philippine government to double their efforts and tap all other means to move all OFWS' out of Libya.
DFA has initiated a 24 hours Free call service for all relatives of OFWs' still stranded in Libya. Smart communications allows the relatives of the stranded OFWs'to talk to them directly.
To avail the Free call service program relatives can visit the DFA main building in Pasay City. Crisis management center added with a set up of 24 hour hotline numbers 834-4580, 834-3245, 834-3240, and 834-4646
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