Now is the right time for Filipino workers to return to Libya after they had fled the country earlier this month due to political tensions, according to a visiting Libyan official.
Libya is peaceful and violence is only confined to rebel-dominated areas, Abdulhadi Lahweej, Libya’s undersecretary for expatriates, immigrants and refugee affairs, told a press conference in Manila Monday.
Still, Philippine Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said the government is maintaining its policy not to deploy workers to Libya.
Some 14,000 Filipinos were evacuated from the country in March, shortly after the rebellion began in mid-February.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization air strikes have hit Tripoli and other targets in the five-month operation to implement a no-fly zone and guard civilians. However, there is a facade of normalcy in the capital as shops are open and residents go about usual daily routines.
Manila: The foreign affairs department spurned a government invitation for the return of overseas Filipino workers to Libya, a TV report said.
The Philippine government has not yet lifted its no-deployment policy on Libya, Ambassador Raul Hernandez, spokesman of the foreign affairs department, said in a TV interview.
It was in response to Abdul Hadi Lahweej, Libya's undersecretary for expatriates, immigrants and refugee affairs, who said in a press conference on Monday that clashes occur only in rebel-dominated places in Libya.
"We are taking care of them (the OFWs)," Lahweej gave assurance to the Philippine governmen in the same conference.
At the same time, Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said the Philippines still recognised Muammar Gaddafi as Libya's leader.
"We continue to recognise the Libyan government as manifested by the presence of our embassy in Tripoli, which continues to serve over 2,000 of our overseas Filipino workers who remain in Libya," del Rosario explained.
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