400 OFWs from Caraga Region now stranded in 3 troubled Middle Eastern countries

by Ben Serrano

     February 25, 2011

            BUTUAN CITY (PNA) - More or less 400 overseas Filipino contract workers from Caraga region are now stranded in three troubled Middle Eastern countries, Libya, Bahrain and Yemen, the regional office of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration here said.

            OWWA-Caraga official Annette Lovete, in-charge of the OFW Programs and Services Division told PNA out of the total 400 OFWs, 99 are working in Libya, 294 in Bahrain and 7 in Yemen.

            “This is initial official records so far we gather and we are waiting from our Manila office the total numbers of OFWs we deployed in Libya, Bahrain and Yemen” Lovete in an exclusive interview at her office yesterday afternoon.

            Lovete said some relatives of these 400 OFWs already asked assistance from the OWWA-Caraga regional office here saying some of their OFW relatives caught in emergency situation already wanted repatriation.

            “But some relatives of the OFWs just went here to our office just to verify as some narrated their immediate OFW kins do not wanted to go home saying there is no job available for them in our country ergo there is no reason daw for them to go home unless in dire situation they told me” Lovete added.

            Lovete said most OFWs from Caraga region deployed in Libya were mostly professionals occupying lucrative positions in different foreign companies stationed in Libya.

             Mrs. Joannah Bacus, 29, wife of Engr. Ferdinand Carticiano Bacus, 35, a Laboratory Engineer working for Doran Consultant Engineering based in Tripoli, Libya told PNA her husband is asking dire help from the Philippine Government to repatriate him out of troubled Libya.

            Bacus said that as of this writing her husband is still in their working camp kilometers away from Tripoli or outside metropolis Libya.

            “Wala pa pong eroplano kukuha sa kanila worried na worried husband ko at mga kasamahan nila nan a stranded sa kampo” Bacus told OWWA officials here.

            Bacus said unidentified Libyan armed men arrived at her husband’s working camp and attempted to enter the camp by firing volley of gunshots at the gate.

            “Luckily the armed men leave and did not enter the camp”, Orozco claimed when wives of her husband’s companions in Libya informed Orozco about their plight.

            Another wife of an OFW in Tripoli, Libya, Mrs. Joy Orozco whose husband Engineer Anthony Luarez Orozco working as Quality Control Engineer of Amona Ranhill Consortium firm in Tajora, Tripoli, Libya seek OWWA’s assistance here for her husband’s  emergency repatriation.

            Orozco said her husband is always calling at her mobile phone seeking government’s assistance that they must be plane out of Libya as soon as possible.

            Parents of OFW Civil Engineer Nashville Delfin Estrada who is working at Tripoli, Libya-based firm Al Nahr Co. Ltd. Manufacturing and Construction also seek assistance at the OWWA regional office here.

            68 year old father of the stranded OFW, Nazario Estrada and wife who travelled all the way from Tandag, Surigao del Sur about 200 kilometers away from Butuan City where OWWA regional office is located told OWWA officials here that their OFW son was always calling them seeking assistance from the Philippine Government.

            Nazario told OWWA officials he is worried on the situation of his son saying armed men also tried to enter their camp in Tripoli, Libya.

            Lovete assured the OFW relatives that she will narrate their concerns to their central office in Manila. (-30-)

            “Luckily the armed men leave and did not enter the camp”, Orozco claimed when wives of her husband’s companions in Libya informed Orozco about their plight.

            Another wife of an OFW in Tripoli, Libya, Mrs. Joy Orozco whose husband Engineer Anthony Luarez Orozco working as Quality Control Engineer of Amona Ranhill Consortium firm in Tajora, Tripoli, Libya seek OWWA’s assistance here for her husband’s  emergency repatriation.

            Orozco said her husband is always calling at her mobile phone seeking government’s assistance that they must be plane out of Libya as soon as possible.

            Parents of OFW Civil Engineer Nashville Delfin Estrada who is working at Tripoli, Libya-based firm Al Nahr Co. Ltd. Manufacturing and Construction also seek assistance at the OWWA regional office here.

            68 year old father of the stranded OFW, Nazario Estrada and wife who travelled all the way from Tandag, Surigao del Sur about 200 kilometers away from Butuan City where OWWA regional office is located told OWWA officials here that their OFW son was always calling them seeking assistance from the Philippine Government.

            Nazario told OWWA officials he is worried on the situation of his son saying armed men also tried to enter their camp in Tripoli, Libya.

            Lovete assured the OFW relatives that she will narrate their concerns to their central office in Manila.(PNA/Ben Serrano)