Libya bans Pinoy workers due to SARS

Libya indefinitely suspended yesterday the hiring of Filipino workers, fearing they might bring the killer virus Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) to the North African country.

Two Libya-bound engineers and 130 other Filipinos were barred Wednesday night from boarding an Egypt Air plane at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport after airline officials received an advisory from their office in Tripoli that Libyan civil aviation and immigration authorities have banned the entry of Filipino workers.

In a diplomatic note to the Department of Foreign Affairs Wednesday, the Libyan embassy in Manila said: "No airline is allowed to transport Filipino contract workers bound for Libya. Otherwise, they will be deported back to the Philippines and Libya will not shoulder their airfare."

The DFA will file a diplomatic protest with Libya today and Ambassador Salem Adam will be summoned to explain why Filipinos had been barred from entering Libya.

In filing the protest, the DFA said the Libyan government did not inform the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli of the ban and that the Libyan embassy in Manila was also silent.

"It is also of concern that the Libyan government instructions were only obtained by the post and the department from third party sources; and it has caused inconveniences on the part of OFWs and the Philippine government," the protest said.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople said yesterday the government would file a "strong protest" against any country that bans the entry of Filipinos on grounds that the Philippines is SARS-infected.

"There is no medical or factual basis for anyone to discriminate against travelers coming from or going to the Philippines," he said. "The adoption of restriction that are not based on fact but on fear only tend to fuel misunderstanding and panic over SARS. (It) would only distract us from meaningfully confronting and addressing the problem."

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Jose Brillantes said diplomats would ask Libya to reconsider the ban, stressing that the Philippines remains among those countries not severely affected by the virus.

Brillantes said Filipino workers bound for Libya could be issued a certificate giving them a clean bill of health.

"Because of this certification, Libya might find it possible to remove any kind of restriction or any kind of ban on workers who are clearly not SARS infected," he said.

Engineers Alejandro Bassig, 47, and Ricardo Buangin, 53, have been working for the Libyan government-controlled Surfe Oil Co. for more than a decade and had returned last March 14 for a vacation here.

"We are not aware of the (ban)," the two said. "We came from the provinces and we never thought that we would suffer like this."

Bassig, Buangin and the 130 other off-loaded Filipinos are now temporarily housed at the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration Center at the corner of Gil Puyat Avenue and Harrison Boulevard in Pasay City.

Two deaths attributed to SARS, including a Filipino nurse’s aide from Canada, have occurred in the Philippines within this week. – Pia Lee-Brago, Sandy Araneta, AFP