A Capampangan Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) from Libya is expected to arrive today afternoon at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) via Qatar Airways, along with other OFWs who were forced to leave the said country because of the on-going crisis.
Engineer Rafael G. Yaya of Sta.Rita town, employed with the Harsha Rabish Al Zawiyah along with 21 Filipinos, is among the OFWs from Libya slated to arrive in the country tomorrow.
This was learned from Karen Dale, technical staff of the Pampanga Action Center for Overseas Filipino Workers Concerns (PACOC) who personally received the information from Remedios Yaya, wife of the repatriated OFW.
According to his wife, Yaya has been staying at the pick-up point in Tunisia since Friday waiting for his return flight to the country.
Dale said that Yaya’s wife has been in constant communication with PACOC since February 24 to seek assistance for the immediate repatriation of her husband.
PACOC Head Maria Eliza Rey M. Muñoz earlier coordinated with Department of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban B. Conejos, Jr. and sought the office’s assistance and action to ensure the immediate repatriation of Yaya and 12 other OFWs from Pampanga.
PACOC also brought to the attention of Vice-President and Presidential Adviser for OFW Concerns Jejomar Binay, Senator Jinggoy Estrada as chairman of the Senate Committee on Labor and Senator Manny Villar the plight of the said OFWs from Pampanga.
Muñoz said that Governor Lilia G. Pineda is willing to provide whatever necessary assistance and services the provincial government could extend to the displaced OFWs.
Dale also reported that of the total number of Capampangan OFWs in Libya who sought the assistance of PACOC, four are currently staying at the Gariones Tourist Village Hotel in Benghazi as they wait for their transfer to a nearby port where they will board a ship for Greece en route to the country.
She said that they were informed by one of the relatives of the OFWs that they are due to board the ship for Greece tomorrow along with 1,500 other Filipino workers.
Meanwhile, six other OFWs who are employed at IBM Sina Polymedic Clinic in Benghazi, Libya have been reportedly offered an increase in compensation and benefits if they remain working in the country.
Nevertheless, parents of the said OFWs informed PACOC that their sons have decided to come home in spite of the offered increase by the employer.
PACOC officials are hopeful that all these Capampangan OFWs who requested their assistance be repatriated at the soonest possible time. (Pampanga PIO)
