MANILA, Philippines—Fearing for their safety amid the growing violence in Libya, nearly 2,000 Filipino workers trapped at the epicenter of the North African nation’s unrest called on the Philippine government on Sunday to have them evacuated immediately.
The migrants group Migrante-Middle East said about 1,700 Filipino workers were trapped at an airport construction site in Benghazi due to the huge protests in the country’s second largest city and the violent repression they drew from the state.
Migrante-Middle East regional director John Leonard Monterona said he received a phone call Sunday from Gil Lebria, Migrante country coordinator in Libya, informing him of the request for help by the Filipinos working at the airport project.
The Filipino workers “conveyed their serious concerns for their safety as peace and order in Benghazi is getting worst as the incumbent regime is determined to crush the protest waged by thousands of its nationals,” said Monterona, quoting Lebria.
Lebria also told Monterona that the trapped Filipino workers were asking for aid from the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli, some 800 kilometers from Benghazi.
“They want food as they are running out and they cannot get out of the project site,” said Monterona.
The Libyan government has ordered the use of force to crush the uprising in Benghazi by its nationals calling for an end to the 42-year regime of Moammar Gadhafi. Scores of protesters have been reported killed since the protest began last week.
According to Monterona, about 25,000 Filipinos work in Libya—16,000 of them nurses with the rest as professionals in various fields and construction workers.
“What also worries them is that their passports and other pertinent travel documents are with their employers [and] in case of emergency they would not easily be able to obtain them,” Monterona said.
Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said Sunday the government was keeping close tabs on the situation of Filipinos in Bahrain, Libya and Yemen.
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