Beleaguered OFWs in Libya seek RP gov’t help

By Jerome Aning
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 06:10:00 07/06/2009

MANILA, Philippines—An alliance of overseas Filipino workers’ organizations based in the Middle East Sunday called on the government to help 122 OFWs in Libya who have accused their employer of illegally transferring their work site and making them sign new contracts that reduced their wages.

Migrante-Middle East said the Filipinos, mostly construction workers, were deployed to the eastern port city of Benghazi by Aleskan Construction Co.

John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-ME regional coordinator, said the employer forced the OFWs to sign new contracts whose salary provisions differed from the contracts they signed in the Philippines.

Monterona said the OFWs were given a flat rate salary of 250 Libyan dinars (about $312) each per month, instead of the $400 for a skilled worker to $700 for a foreman as promised by their recruiter, Bison Management Corp.-Philippines. The US dollar is roughly equivalent to 1.25 Libyan dinars.

“We have called our agency in the Philippines but they can’t do anything. We don’t want our situation to get more problematic by this revelation. We also want Libya to continue being a nice destination for OFWs. We wish we could still fulfill our promise to give a better life to our families. We have sacrificed a lot for them,” the OFWs said in an eight-page letter, a copy of which was provided to the Philippine Daily Inquirer by Monterona.

The OFWs were originally hired by a firm named Ersaa to work for its Bab Tarablus project in the Libyan capital Tripoli. After being deployed by batches in April, they were sent to Aleskan in Benghazi, a thousand kilometers from Tripoli.

The OFWs, in their letter to Migrante-ME dated June 23, also complained that they were given no overtime pay, placed in unsanitary accommodations, and experienced working conditions without safety equipment and health care.

“They said they don’t have a company nurse or medical staff to look after their health and that some of the medicines given to their sick co-workers had expired,” Monterona, who is based in Saudi Arabia, said in a statement e-mailed to the Inquirer.

“Some of their sick companions were forced to seek help from the local Filipino community for medical care and attention which their company failed to provide,” Monterona said.

The OFWs cited the case of a worker who was confined at a hospital in Benghazi and was visited once by an official from the Philippine Embassy. At least nine of their colleagues ran away, unable to bear the poor working conditions, they said.

Libya needs 16,000 workers

MANILA, Philippines -- The North African country of Libya is in need of more than 16,000 migrant workers, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said Saturday.

Citing a report from Philippine labor officials in Tripoli, Roque said oil-rich Libya is experiencing a construction boom and has remained relatively unscathed by the global financial crisis that battered major Filipino workers’ destinations such as Dubai and Taiwan.

“The employment prospects in Libya and nearby nations are favorable for OFWs as they continue to be the preferred choice among foreign employers,” Roque said, noting that OFWs have become popular abroad because of their skills, industry, adaptability, and facility with the English language.

Job opportunities abound in the Libyan oil and gas sector, construction industry, and health sectors, he noted.

According to the labor chief, "Korean firms like Daewoo, Hyundai, and Al Nahr are currently recruiting thousands of OFWs for their development and construction projects in Libya."

Philippine labor officials are "constantly conducting meetings with these companies as well as with other firms in Libya in need of foreign workers to pave the way for the recruitment and deployment of OFWs with appropriate skills to this country," Roque said.

Aside from opportunities in the infrastructure and oil industries, Libya is also opening its tourism and medical sector to Filipinos.

Talks were underway to allow Filipino health workers to work in Libyan hospitals, Roque said. Labor officials in Tripoli have requested the Libyan health ministry to allow the recruitment of around 4,000 Filipino medical workers for the Tripoli and Benghazi Medical Centers and other hospitals and clinics in Libya, he noted.

According to the Labor chief, Libya is also developing its tourism sector and has been luring hotel developers in the country, which serves as the gateway between the Mediterranean and Africa.

The Philippine labor office in Tripoli also reported that there were opportunities for OFWs in the hotel, oil and gas, and technical services sectors of Libya's neighbors like Algeria, Chad, Malta, and Morocco. - Kristine L. Alave, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Posted date: May 09, 2009

SAYS RECRUITER: Saudi, Qatar, Libya still hiring Filipinos

MANILA, Philippines—As the world economy shrinks, so does the need for migrant workers.

But recruiter Loreto Soriano, executive director of the Federated Associations of Manpower Exporters Inc., said the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Libya are still hiring overseas Filipino workers.

Soriano, who also owns the LBS E-Recruitment Agency, said these three countries in the Middle East can provide sustained OFW employment, but not enough to counter the job cuts around the world.

Moreover, the viability of OFW deployment in these countries depends largely on the price of oil.

“These are promising markets because they have proven their resilience and their ability to maintain their current [infrastructure] projects,” he said.

Aside from construction workers and engineers, these three countries also need nurses and other health-related professionals.

He said Libya, which had suffered an economic embargo until 2007, is more than able to overcome the difficulties of this crisis.

Soriano said the average price of oil must not fall below $45 per barrel for more than six months, “as this appears to be the minimum price to ensure continuation of their development projects.”

“If it stays below that figure a marked contraction could occur with high OFW lay-offs,” he said. - Veronica Uy, INQUIRER.net, March 06, 2009