MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment would issue a deployment ban of Filipino workers to Libya once it receives an official notice from the Department of Foreign Affairs about alert level on the North African country.
From Alert Level II or the restriction phase, the DFA has raised Alert Level III in Libya, which calls for voluntary repatriation.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said his department has not yet received an official advice from the DFA.
"We do not have an official advice from the department that is why for today, I will convene the governing board of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration," Bello told radio dzMM Wednesday morning.
Bello said the DOLE cannot cite media reports on the alert level in Libya for totally banning the deployment of Filipino workers.
"When we get an advice that Alert Level III is raised then we will come up with a board resolution banning the deployment of overseas workers into Libya," the Labor secretary said.
In a statement released Tuesday evening, the DFA said the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli issued a recommendation of raising the alert level due to the escalation of fighting in the outskirts of the capital.
Tripoli and areas within a 100-kilometer radius of the capital are under Alert Level III.
This includes Tajoura, Ghot Romman, Qaraboli and Qasr Khiyar in the east; Esbea, Tarhuna, Bani Waled and Gharyan in the south; Aziziya, Warshifana, Zawia, Surman and Sabratha in the west.
"With the declaration, the Department said travel to Libya by Filipinos working in the said areas will not be allowed until situation in the country stabilizes and the alert level is lowered back to II," the DFA said.
The DFA said the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli will remain open to extend assistance to Filipinos who might be affected by the fighting.
Meanwhile, the United Nations had had evacuated more than 150 refugees from a Tripoli detention center affected by recent clashes and said refugees elsewhere might also need to be moved.
The operation came as warring factions in the North African country faced mounting international pressure to halt violence that has killed several dozen people and caused thousands of others to flee.
"In light of current insecurity in Libya’s capital ... the UN Refugee Agency today relocated more than 150 refugees from the Ain Zara detention centre in south Tripoli," the UN agency said in a statement. — Patricia Lourdes Viray with AFP