PINOYS CHOSEN RISKY LIBYA OVER JOB-SCARCE PHILIPPINES
TRIPOLI, Libya - Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Del Rosario said based on the feedback he had got from Filipino community leaders in Libya, most had opted to stay because they think they are better off.Filipinos in Libya are risking their lives with their decision to stay in the strife-torn North African country because they fear they will have no jobs if they return to the Philippines.
"Many want to go home, but they prefer to stay in Libya because there are no job opportunities in the Philippines," the official said.- Del Rosario, who visited Libya on March 22 to make a last call to Filipinos to avail of the government's repatriation programme, said Filipino community leaders told him most of those who opted to stay were promised pay increases.
Others were warned by their employers they would lose entitlement to gratuity pay if they did not finish their contracts. Most who opted to stay were nurses and other health workers. Del Rosario said one nurse told him people believed they were safe in Libya.- He quoted one nurse as saying: "Our employer promised to take care of us and told us that if the worse comes to worst, we will be housed in the hospital and provided with everything we need for free, on top of salary increase."
Del Rosario said one Filipino nursing professor teaching in a university in Benghazi said that they were asked to stay and would be paid their wages even if there are no classes. Another admitted that she could not readily give up a salary ranging between 4,500 and 6,000 Libyan dinars, or 160,000 pesos (Dh13,261) to 200,000 pesos (Dh17,000), roughly the equivalent of pay received by vice-presidents of multi-national corporations in the Philippines.
He said of 2,000 nurses with dependents in Libya, around 1,600 had decided to stay. Eight hundred of these nurses and dependents are in Tripoli.Del Rosario said rather than fearing for their life because of the reported fighting raging in parts of Libya, "Filipino workers are actually more concerned about the difficulty in remitting money to their family."
8000 FILIPINOS RISK THEIR LIVES TO REMAIN IN RESTIVE LIBYA
TRIPOLI, Libya - Reports reaching Manila said that thousands of Filipino nurses and medical staff have chosen to brave and wait out the several weeks of political strife out of professional commitment.It ironic, when most overseas workers in Libya had been trying to leave, Filipina nurses in the embattled North African country are drawing praise for their gallant commitment to their vocation.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos said that despite a move by the Philippine government to offer repatriation to Filipinos who volunteer to get out of Libya, some 8,000 nurses and other medical workers chose to stay despite the obvious risk to their lives.- According to latest report, There are 1,300 Filipino nurses employed by the Tripoli Medical Center, one of the largest hospital in Libya and a further 600 at the Benghazi Medical Center.
The fighting between government forces of Muammar Gaddafi and rebels had been largely confined to strategic areas in Tripoli and Benghazi and medical facilities in these locales are hard-pressed attending to civilian as well as military casualties. Conejos said that because of the commitment shown by Filipino medical workers, they have earned the respect of not only the Libyans, but other foreign nationals as well.- Prior to the outbreak of protests against the government of Gaddafi, the Department of Foreign Affairs said there were 26,000 Filipinos in Libya at any given time. These Philippine nationals include skilled workers, information technology professionals, engineers, oil field workers, technicians as well as medical workers.
Earlier, Labour and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz said her department's National Reintegration Centre for Overseas (NRCO) Filipino workers is ready with appropriate programmes for returnees, particularly those who have arrived and those yet to arrive from Libya.- She said mechanisms to ensure their smooth reintegration to mainstream Philippine society are in place.
At least one out of every 10 Filipinos is employed in jobs overseas and with the current situation in North Africa and the Middle East, the Philippines could be forced to adapt measures that will allow its remittances-dependent economy to catch up with the rapidly developing changes abroad.
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