Four Pinoy oil workers abducted by armed men in Libya – DFA

Four Filipino workers were among the nine foreigners seized by gunmen at an oil field in Central Libya on March 6, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Monday.

 

“No one has claimed responsibility for the abduction and the employer has not received any ransom demand,” Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose told a press briefing.

The latest abduction came more than a month after the kidnapping of three Filipinos at the Mabruk Oil Field on Feb. 3. Their whereabouts are still unknown. 

Jose said the Filipinos are working for VAOS Oil Services, an Austrian-owned company headquartered in Tripoli. They were seized from the Al-Ghani oil field, along with two Bangladeshis, one from Ghana, a Czech national and an Austrian, after the facility was attacked by heavily armed men last Friday. 

 

“The embassy has stepped up coordination with VAOS officials and Libyan authorities to locate the abducted Filipinos and ensure their safe and immediate release,” Jose said.

 

Earlier reports said the foreign workers were seized by Islamic State militants operating in Libya, but Jose said they have no confirmation on this.

 

There are 52 other Filipinos employed by the company, but they were evacuated from the Al-Ghani oil field much earlier and are now in Tripoli.

“Al-Ghani has not been operating for two weeks due to several incidents of attack on oil facilities, but some workers have remained there. The four Filipinos and other foreign workers were still there at the time and they were the ones seized by the armed group,” Jose said.

 

Embassy officials met the Filipino VAOS workers at the company headquarters in Tripoli and 36 have expressed their desire to be repatriated back to the Philippines immediately, Jose said.

 

“We are expecting more to sign up in the coming days. The embassy and the company are working closely together to facilitate the immediate repatriation of the remaining Filipinos,” he said.

 

Libya does not have a functioning government and is plagued by several months of civil unrest and armed hostilities.

 

Last year, a Filipino worker was beheaded by militants and a Filipina nurse was gang-raped, while another was injured in an attack on an upscale hotel in capital Tripoli last month – highlighting the danger faced by the remaining 4,000 Philippine nationals working in the troubled North African state.

 

Despite repeated appeals from the Philippine government to leave, many of them continued to hold on to their jobs in Libya despite the widespread violence, citing lack of economic opportunities back home

 

The DFA said it will continue to enforce mandatory evacuation and even called on the relatives of those Filipinos who are in Libya to convince their loved ones to return to the Philippines as the violence and armed conflict showed no sign of easing.

 

“These cases underscore the escalating threat to the safety and security of Filipino oil workers in Libyan oil fields which have been targeted by armed groups in recent weeks,” Jose said.

 

“In view of this worsening situation, we appeal once again to the estimated 4,000 plus Filipinos who are still in Libya to get in touch with our embassy in Tripoli and avail themselves of the Philippine government’s mandatory repatriation program,” he added. — RSJ, GMA News