The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) wishes to inform everyone that the total deployment ban in Libya is still very much in effect. In fact, the government continues to conduct repatriation efforts to help all overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who are still in Libya to go home safely. The government agency stressed that Libya is still on Alert level 4 because of political unrest.

The POEA issued another advisory because of reports that some repatriated OFWs plans to go back to Libya by using Tunisia as an entry point. Under this new scheme, OFWs were able to secure valid exit clearances from POEA satellite offices located in Calamba, Laguna, Baguio City, and Pampanga by presenting employment documents for Tunisia.

The chief of POEA, Carlos Cao Jr., said that there are reports of 59 repatriated teachers from Libya that would like to go back to Libya using the said scheme. Another government agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) warns OFWs about the consequences they might face by attempting to go to Libya using illegal means.

The POEA alerted the Bureau of Immigration about this new scheme and apparently there were workers who were already caught at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). Authorities detained the said workers after discovering that thy have (2) working visas – one for Tunisia and the other for Libya.

Administrator Cao said that because of this scheme, five (5) Filipino teachers are now stranded in Tunisia.

He said. “We do not want our workers to suffer over the great possibility of exploitation due to their desire to enter a country where there is an existing ban. That is why at the outset, we want them to use legal channels only and in countries where they are safe from harm.”

The POEA encourage everyone to check if their agency or job order is legal and valid by calling the POEA hotline numbers -722-1144/722-1155 or visiting its website www.poea.gov.ph.