MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Wednesday denied reports that 10 Filipino nurses were kidnapped in strife-torn Libya.
“My report is that the nurses that are being reported as being kidnapped, that's not quite accurate,” said DFA Secretary Albert Del Rosario.
Del Rosario, who was in Vietnam, told Umagang Kay Ganda that the nurses were not kidnapped but were relocated due to the shelling in Misurata.
He said the shelling hit a hospital where some Filipino nurses have been working. Although there were casualties, Del Rosario said that no Filipino was hurt from the incident.
“There is an adjoining dormitory where our nurses stay. What happened here is that the anti-government forces went in there with the intention of relocating the nurses, our nurses, who were there. And so they have been relocated,” he said.
“I cannot tell you exactly where, but our people in the embassy apparently know where that location is now,” he added.
According to Del Rosario, embassy personnel tried but failed to enter Misurata the other day to get the nurses out. He explained that Misurata is “where the conflict has been heaviest since the beginning of the problems in Libya”.
“What we did, we have sought the assistance of the Libyan government and they would try to escort us today in terms of going in there to get our nurses out from where they are,” he said.
He also admitted that it is hard for the Philippine government to forcibly evacuate Filipinos from Libya.
There are still thousands of Filipinos who have opted to stay in Libya despite the escalating crisis in the country. These workers have said that they don’t have jobs waiting for them in the Philippines.
“It is very difficult for us to try and do that. We can only try to persuade them, we can't take them out against their will. We have gone back several times to be able to evacuate them but they have chosen to stay there," Del Rosario said.
Despite this, he assured that the Philippine embassy is still open to serve Filipinos remaining in Libya.
“We have kept our embassy open to be able to serve our people there. Many embassies have already closed and their people have already come home. Our embassy is open to serve our people,” he said.
