The provincial government of Negros Oriental is extending at least P20,000 each for every returning Negrense affected by the crisis situation in Libya, according to the Provincial Social Welfare Officer Alice Lagarde.{{more}}
Lagarde disclosed that at least seven of them have come to her office to seek for financial assistance after the announcement made by Gov. Roel Degamo that funds are available for Oriental Negrenses caught in the crossfire amid the political turmoil in Libya. Such funds will be taken from the Aid to Individuals in Crisis Situation.
The initial list of OFWs who returned home empty-handed included electricians George Velez, Robert Ortega, both from Dumaguete; Joel Latoy, an electrician from Sibulan; Crusaldo Perojon, also an electrician, Merlyn Orcullo, a nurse from Sibulan; Electrical Engr Jose Victor Teves and a certain surnamed Barba who is also a nurse.
According to Lagarde, the desire of the province to extend P20,000 additional financial assistance was approved by Social Welfare & Development Sec. Corazon Juliano Soliman in consultation with the Labor & Employment Sec. Linda Baldoz.
Soliman thanked the Governor for the financial support extended to Negrense-OFWs, in a letter to the provincial social welfare and development officer, dated March 9, 2011.
George Velez said he was in Libya barely a month as an electrician of Bonatti, a company producing oil and gas in Nafurra, Libya, when the crisis erupted. He has not even received his first salary yet, and that he practically left his job without a single centavo, along with 42 other Filipinos in the company.
They traveled from Nafurra through a bus to the Briga pier where a marine warship was waiting to ferry them to Italy. From Italy, they again took the bus to Rome then to Qatar on board Qatar Airlines then to the Philippines, he said.
While in Manila, they received P10,000 each in cash from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.
Orcullo, a nurse, also related her traumatic experience, saying she and other OFWs were able to get out of Libya only to find out that they were in Tunisia. (PNA- jfp/Juancho Gallarde)