DOLE officials flying to Libya to check situation, prepare for evacuation

The Department of Labor and Employment will send two officials to Libya to assist Filipinos amid the security situation there, state-run Philippines News Agency reported Saturday.

DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said Labor Attache Nasser Mustafa and Welfare Officer Eduardo Mendoza, Jr. will augment the staff of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Tripoli.

Mustafa and Mendoza were part of the ground team in Libya that helped in the evacuation and repatriation of OFWs during the Libyan crisis in 2011, the PNA report said.

Both "will travel to Libya mainly to establish [a] network with OFWs and their employers, assess the actual peace and security situation, and recommend a plan of action to facilitate the evacuation of Filipinos when it becomes necessary," the PNA quoted Baldoz as saying.

Philippine Overseas Employment Administration head Hans Leo Cacdac, who chairs the DOLE’s Libya Crisis Quick Response Team, noted violent disturbances in Benghazi, where many OFWs are deployed.

Cacdac may recommend the deployment of another contingency team composed of Labor Attaches David Des Dicang, Jeffrey Cortazar, Nasser Munder, and Ramon Tionloc and
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Director Albert Valenciano

The five are to identify and inspect possible exit points and transit countries to ensure the safety of the OFWs during actual evacuation, the PNA report said.

Cacdac also said the DOLE has established a command center that monitors the situation in Libya through reports gathered from the POLO in Tripoli, from the rapid response team on site, and from news reports.

In the meantime, Baldoz said, the Philippine Overseas Labor Office and the Philippine Embassy are monitoring and assessing the situation in Libya, while working on appropriate action to ensure the safety and welfare of OFWs there.

"The DOLE augmentation team should form part of the country’s Rapid Response Team (RRT) in Libya, together with the team from the Department of Foreign Affairs, under the one-country-team approach," she said. — Joel Locsin/JDS, GMA News

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