FILIPINOS IN LIBYA, HONDURAS CAUTIONED

THE Department of Foreign Affairs ( DFA) on Friday advised Filipinos in Libya and Honduras to exercise care to avoid getting caught in the political turmoil in their respective host countries. “Our OFWs in Libya face two natural difficulties: their safety and security, and their ability to send their earnings back to the Philippines,” the DFA said in a statement. The other hand, the DFA raised Alert Level 1 ( precautionary phase) in Honduras due to the political unrest in the country after the November 2017 general election. Alert Level 1 is raised when there are valid signs of internal disturbance, instability or external threat to the host country. The DFA said that based on actual feedback from the few remaining Filipino workers in Libya, the required mechanisms for remitting their salaries were “still in the offing.” “Foreign currency is scarce in Libya, and in the competition for this scarce resource, foreign workers lose out to uncontrollable economic and political forces,” the DFA said. It added that prospective workers should carefully scrutinize private offers for employment in Libya. These job offers circumvent the safety features set up by the Philippines, through so- called backdoor deployment schemes where workers are advised to travel first as tourists to other Asian cities to secure their Libyan working visas there. This is considered illegal recruitment, which is frowned upon by the Libyan government. Deployment of workers to Libya is barred under the present Alert Level 2.