DFA Brings Home 280 Filipinos from North Africa
PASAY CITY 22 June 2020 — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) brought home today 280 Filipinos from Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia in its first repatriation from North Africa.
In its report to Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr, the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli, which oversaw the repatriation, said 227 FIlipinos from Algeria, 39 from Libya, and 15 from Tunisia, are to arrive Monday evening on board a Philippine Airlines flight from Tunis. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Elmer G. Cato said the repatriation, which was the result of the collaboration between the Embassy and employers, is the largest and most complicated to be carried out by the DFA from North Africa since the 2014 conflict in Libya. He said the repatriation took almost two months to execute because it involved coordination with employers and authorities in three countries.
On Sunday, a PAL Boeing 777-300ER landed in Algiers to pick up 227 Filipino construction workers from Hyundai Engineering Corporation and Samsung Construction. It then proceeded to Tunis to pick up 39 Filipinos from Libya and 14 from Tunisia. The repatriates from Libya included a four-month old baby, five government personnel, and the remains of hospital workers Herminia Estrada and Glenna Deza, two hospital workers who passed away due to non-COVID-19-related complications. They were flown to Tunis on board a Libyan Airlines A330 aircraft provided by the Libyan Government as a reciprocal gesture for the accommodation by the Philippine Government of 23 Libyans in the PAL flight from Manila. Six Tunisian nationals were also on board.
“This mission would not have been possible without the assistance of employers and the Libyan government and the support of the Home Office,” said Chargè d’Affaires Cato who also expressed appreciation for the assistance extended by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) for the COVID-19 tests conducted on the Libyan and Tunisians repatriates. “Consistent with the President’s promise to being our people home, this evening we reunited 280 Filipinos with their loved ones in the Philippines,” Chargé d’Affaires Cato said. END (Photos by the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli)
