Libya repatriation: Gov’t action ‘too little, too late’

[cast_no_shadow]

Nagbabayad ba ng Income Tax ang mga OFW? Curious lang. Mas may karapatan silang i-repatriate kung ganoon.

They dont, but they pay OWWA insurance/membership..

[chua_riwap]

i think we have one tsikoteer from libya, his username is "chrismarte".
musta na kaya siya?

http://tsikot.yehey.com/forums/showt...t=77679&page=2

[shadow]

ang intindi ko sa explanation ng OWWA eh, most of the workers in Libya are skilled workers so kasama sa contract nila na employers nila ang sasagot sa mga evacuation nila in case mneron ganitong nangyari.

ang nakakatawa lang yun wala pa OWWA eh yun mga pinoy workers ang daming reklamo na walang ginagawa etc. pero nun andoon na ayaw na nilang sumama dahil voluntary repatriation ang sabi ng employers nila, so pinapapirma sila ng waiver na walang babayaran or wala sila ma claim sa employer nila pag sumama na sila sa OWWA, marami na nag atrasan...

[uls]

there are over 20,000 OFWs in Libya

to get out of Libya by land, they have to travel west to Tunisia or east to Egypt

the number of OFWs repatriated is very small

there are probably thousands of OFWs at the Tunisia-Libya and Egypt-Libya borders right now

and thousands more on the way to the borders

and thousands still trapped in Tripoli

food import and distribution in Libya has been disrupted for several days na

there is already food shortage in Libya

we're gonna hear a lot of horror stories from OFWs in the coming days

[chua_riwap]

Pataasan pala ng bidding sa mga vehicles, talo lagi ang Pinas sa bansang may pera.........

Kaya kawawa mga kabayans natin.



http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/03...-exodus-ordeal

When del Rosario’s team reached the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli, they immediately organized a convoy of 40 vans and buses to bring some 400 OFWs to the Tunisian border.

He said they had a hard time renting bigger buses to drive the OFWs to the border because they were outbid by other countries. Also, travelling overland was not easy. The team had to pass through about 20 checkpoints manned by either government or anti-government forces.

“There were about 20 checkpoints and as we approach these checkpoints I would say "Ok smile!" Let's see if we can get through this by smiling. We said we would utilize smile diplomacy,” he said.

The DFA secretary also told media the different means of transportation they planned to tap to get Filipinos out of Libya.

“We have studied the possibility of landing a plane to Tripoli but the airport closed up. In addition to that, we understood that the United Nations had imposed a no fly zone in Libya. We didn’t get the details on that until much later,” he said.

They also attempted to get a ship much earlier but other countries beat them to it by outbidding them.

"Each time that we would be at that point where we would finalize the contract of the ship, we would lose it for some reason. I think it is being sold to the highest bidder. Situation was such that we were being outbid by any other countries looking to get out as well,” he said.

The Philippine embassy in Greece was finally able to charter a ship, the Ionian Queen, to repatriate Filipinos from Libya.

The ship will transport Filipinos to the Island of Crete where a DFA crisis team will be waiting for them.

Del Rosario said they had to make do with little resources compared to other countries like Britain and the United States that have warships and use military aircraft to airlift their people.

The DFA chief, meanwhile, said they have a problem repatriating 6,000 Pinoy nurses in Libya because an order was reportedly released requiring health workers to stay in hospitals.

He said nurses on leave were able to go with the DFA team.

Del Rosario also advised OFWs to go to evacuation areas in Tripoli.

Del Rosario admitted that the government’s resources are limited but he believes that they still have a good working relationship in Libya.

“To begin with, our resources are so limited. I went there just to be sure that our strategy of protecting the overseas workers wasn’t late. We looked at possibilities. I think we have good working relations there,” Del Rosario said.

Del Rosario also defended the DFA from several criticisms it received from various sectors of society.

“I am not saying we have a perfect strategy there. We don’t. But we are trying to do our best,” del Rosario said in a press briefing at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

[tidus1203]

Survival of the fittest again in demonstration. Better be a FIRST WORLD citizen then...

[CVT]

Oh wow! With such big number of OFWs in Libya(~20K) and no traceability where each and everyone is located... To each his own ang magiging labanan niyan in the end....

Gamitan na ng text brigade, kung nasa kanila pa ang cellphone....

12.4K:knit:

[CVT]

Sabi nga ng isang OFW na nag-walkout sa OWWA:

"Ang kumpanya namin ang nagbayad sa tiket namin, at hindi ang OWWA. Bakit parang lumalabas na sila ang tumulong sa amin?"

"Pag lapag namin sa NAIA, all that OWWA can give us is a ball cap"

Ang akala ko pa naman, ibinibigay ang caps doon sa evacuation centers, para madaling ma-identify kung sinu-sino ang mga Pinoy sa dami ng tao roon....

Hindi pala,- dito na sa NAIA... Hay naku OWWA....

12.4K:knit:

[weisshorn]

Nagbabayad ba ng Income Tax ang mga OFW? Curious lang. Mas may karapatan silang i-repatriate kung ganoon.

OT: Sakit naman ng curiousity mo. Di porke hindi nagbabayad ng income tax ang OFW ay wala nang karapatan na i-repatriate. Hindi nga nagbabayad ng income tax pero ang familya dito sa Pilipinas ay nagbabayad ng lahat na taxes na pinapataw ng gobierno. Lahat ng charges, contributions at iba pang ni-require ng gobierno binabayaran ng OFW before deployment. Ang remittance na pinapadala ng OFW ay napakalaking tulong to keep this country's DOLLAR RESERVE. The money that OFW sent home help public spending to help this country's economy. Bakit nga ba nag-survive ang Pilipinas during Asian currency crisis noong 90's?? di ba dollar ng mga OFW ang may malaking na naitulong. They sacrifice to be away from their family to do all this things.

For OFW like me who works for about 30 years helping this country's economy and get nothing in return, much less a simple repatriation to get out of danger zone is a B#g B*&&$_t.

How about you? Anong tulong ang nagawa mo para sa bansa??

[shadow]

I'm trying my best to understand the DFA's situation, kung sabi ng mga OFW na hinde sila makalbas dahil meron mga armed rebels sa labas or blocked yun daanan, eh di ibig sabihin wala rin makakapasok doon sa area nila.

I mean it's not like na agad-agad andiyan na ang tao ng mga DFA, I assumed na short tayo sa finances and man power and based sa mga news 8+ hrs na land travel yun ibang areas kung nasaan ang yun mga pinoys. yun isang napanood ko 700+ kms sila away from Tripoli where doon yun mga meeting point. that's around 12+ hrs of travel.

saka yun numbers ng OFW ang intindi ko "deployed" numbers it means that kung ang isang OFW 3X siyang nakabalik na sa Libya so X3 ang bilang niya.