Manila: Libya has done away with its exit visa requirements for Filipinos as officials in Manila expressed regret over the recent rape of a Filipina nurse in Tripoli.
Philippine Labour Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz said Labour Attache to Tripoli Nasser Mustafa had informed the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Administrator Hans Cacdac that securing exit visas will no longer be a concern for Filipinos wanting to flee Libya.
“The Libyan Ministry of Labour has given the authority to bring all Filipinos out of Libya even without exit visas. This also means that Filipino workers who wish to avail of mandatory repatriation need not beg with their employers to allow them to leave Libya,” Baldoz said.
Problems over securing exit visas have been a serious concern for Filipinos recently as most employers are reluctant to issue the documents to their employees, especially health workers.
Meanwhile, Vice-President Jejomar Binay, presidential assistant on overseas Filipino Concerns, announced on Friday that the Filipina nurse who was reportedly raped in Libya is now under the custody of the Philippine embassy in Tripoli.
Reports had said that four Libyan youths abducted the nurse last Wednesday as she was on her way to work. She was allegedly taken to a certain area in Tripoli where six men raped her. She was eventually released hours after her kidnapping.
Some 3,000 Filipino doctors and nurses are employed in Libya as health workers.
