MANILA, Philippines—The Aquino administration has rebuffed a US request for open support of UN military action against Moammar Gadhafi, saying Manila could not speak publicly against the Libyan strongman because of the presence of Filipino workers in the North African country.
US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas Jr. has sought the Aquino administration’s public support for the UN Security Council resolution authorizing military action to protect civilians and a no-fly zone in Libya.
Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, however, “responded that while the government’s sentiments were with the Security Council, it could not speak publicly because it continued to have citizens in Libya,” said Thomas, according to an e-mail to his staff posted on the US Embassy website on Sunday.
As fighter planes and guided missiles from France, Britain and the United States struck with stunning swiftness to enforce the UN mandate, the Philippines on Sunday issued mixed signals to some 15,000 Filipinos remaining in the violence-torn country.
Foreign Undersecretary Rafael Seguis said that the situation in Libya had become “very dangerous” and that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) was “trying to convince” the Filipinos to leave.
DFA spokesperson Eduardo Malaya, however, said recent developments, including the imposition of the no-fly zone in Libya “will not likely adversely affect” the Filipinos opting to stay there.
Zambales Rep. Milagros “Mitos” Magsaysay, a member of the House committee on overseas workers affairs, said any government action now would be “too little, too late.”
Magsaysay said the government should have exhausted all efforts in getting the Filipinos out of Libya during the early stages of the uprising against Gadhafi.
“We should have not scrimped on our efforts and expenses. We can just hope and pray that our ‘kababayans’ (compatriots) will be safe and that their situation will be resolved soon,” she said.
P13-B OWWA budget
Budget Secretary Florencio Abad has said that while the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) had a P13-billion fund, operational problems on the ground had limited the government’s ability to help overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
Philippine Ambassador to Libya Alejandrino Vicente and the rest of the embassy staff in Tripoli “will remain to take care of our country’s interests and ensure the safety of the Filipinos who chose to remain for personal reasons,” Malaya said.
He also said “many Filipino nurses have chosen to stay put in order to fulfill their professional obligation to minister to the needs of the sick and wounded.”
Nurses in danger
“The safest places for them are the hospitals where they work. Hospitals are considered protected areas under international humanitarian law,” he said.
Last week, the World Medical Association (WMA) based in London warned that doctors and medical staff were increasingly being attacked and killed in violence wracking the Middle East and elsewhere.
“Physicians have an ethical duty to care for their patients, and governments have a duty to ensure that appropriate conditions exist to allow them to do so,” the WMA’s president, Dr. Wonchat Subhachaturas, said in a statement on Thursday.
“We are receiving an increasing number of reports from the fighting in Libya and elsewhere in the Middle East, from Mexico, India and from Afghanistan, of medical personnel and facilities being attacked,” Wonchat added.
Filipino nurses remaining in Libya said that while they wanted to flee Libya, they feared that that they would face hunger in the Philippines, given the lack of opportunities in their homeland.
The OWWA said 9,039 Filipinos had returned from Libya as of March 18, a large majority of them assisted by their employers.
Fudging figures
Renato Reyes Jr., secretary general of the militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), said “the Palace should come up with an honest report on the evacuation: how many have been evacuated, how many remain and what contingencies are in place for those remaining in Libya.”
Reyes said “the evacuation becomes more urgent now with the UN Security Council’s resolution on the no-fly zone already in effect.”
On Friday, the President’s deputy spokesperson, Abigail Valte, said the DFA had managed to evacuate 90 percent of the 26,000-plus OFWs in Libya.
“The 10 percent, for reasons of their own, chose to stay in Libya,” Valte said.
The Riyadh-based OFW group Migrante-Middle East pointed out that the government had “repatriated only a little over 9,000 OFWs, which is not even 50 percent of 26,000.”
“Incredible inconsistency,” said Kabataan party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino, noting the Palace was “obviously guilty of misleading the public again.”
Palatino said it was “funny that the government which vowed transparency is caught lying to the people.”
“Palace spin doctors should only stick to the truth,” he said.