THE Libyan Charge d’ Affaires Ahmed Eddeb on Thursday called on the Philippine government to re-evaluate the security risk in his country and lift the deployment ban so it could hire new Filipino professionals.
He stressed majority of hospitals in Libya were in “greatlneed” of nurses, technicians, construction workers, among others.
In a press briefing, Eddeb urged Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano to visit Libya, check the security situation, and downgrade the Crisis Alert Level for Libya from 2 (Restriction Phase) to 1 (Precautionary Phase).
“There is a great need of (sic) Filipino nurses in Libya,” Eddeb said, citing majority of hospitals were requesting for Filipino medical practitioners.
“The problem we are facing now [is] plenty of job orders in Libya, the Filipinos are very well-respected workers in Libya, and because of the [employment] ban, companies could not hire new contract workers,” he lamented.
He said he has been sending diplomatic letter to the the Department of Foreign Affairs addressed to the Secretary like “almost every day” since 2016 but up until now the agency had yet to send Security Assessment Team to Tripoli and check the security situation.
“We did our best in contacting the official to lift the ban. We understand that they are very worried about the safety of the Filipinos and the situation in Libya,” Eddeb said.
“But we ask the Philippine government, particularly Secretary Cayetano to try to re-evaluate the security situation in Libya,” he said.
He added that there was an open invitation for Cayetano to personally visit Tripoli and see how safe the country now that the conflict had been settled.
“The situation is normal now. We value the Filipino people…we care about the Filipino people. We cannot risk their lives,” he stressed.
In 2011 there were 26,000 Filipino professionals, comprising nurses, engineers, technicians, employees in the oil sites, working in every part of Libya.
However, due to the extreme political and security change in 2011 during the Arab Spring movement that toppled the 40-year dictatorship of Muammad Gaddafi, the Philippines has implemented a mandatory repatriation and sent 10,000 Filipinos back home.
When another political conflict arose in 2014, the Philippines repatriated another 4,000.
Eddeb said several Filipino workers could not immediately renew their contract and come back to Libya due to deployment ban imposed.
Some Filipinos have found other jobs abroad and that only 9,000 Filipino workers who were able to come back to Libya.
In September 2016, the DFA lowered the Crisis Alert Level for Libya from 4 (Mandatory Repatriation or Evacuation) to 2 (Restriction Phase).
Alert Level 2 is issued when there are threats to the life, security, and property of Filipinos arising from internal disturbances, instability, and/or external threat.
Under this Alert Level, Filipinos are instructed to restrict non-essential movements, avoid public places, and prepare for evacuation.
