www.nordis.nethttp://www.nordis.net/?p=21176
(Posted here is an article I wrote which was published by the Northern Dispatch Weekly. )
By ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW
The on-going war that is destabilizing the oil-rich nation forced her
to get out of Libya. And her well paying job as a nurse for more than
one-year in a privately-owned hospital in the nation’s capital city of
Tripoli. With heavy heart, she chose to leave Tripoli and will, like
thousands of other licensed nurses, face the problem of joblessness or unemployment in the Philippines.
Regina Hombrebueno, in her mid-20s, is a nursing graduate from one of
the tertiary schools in Baguio City in 2010. Like other nurses who were
armed with their professional licenses, she applied for the Middle East
in a company job-fair sponsored by a placement agency in the Baguio
City hall in 2013.
She and the company agreed to a two-year contract but she believes
she was actually “tricked” to accept a one-year contract. As allegedly,
it was “rushed” by the company for her to leave the country and a plane
ticket was already acquired for her. Thinking of the absence of
employment for nurses here, she agreed to the one-year contract to begin
with and she even agreed to pay for her placement’ fee an amount of PhP
45,000, the equivalent of her one month salary abroad.
Fortunately, she landed as a nurse at Tripoli’s Al Fardus Clinic, a
part of a privately-owned hospital.It had a bed capacity for 100
patients. She was enjoying what she claimed was a satisfactory salary
and liberal privileges. She was with 29 Filipino health workers and one
Ukranian, they were housed in a dormitory where all were well provided
for, including transport service to and from the hospital.
Tripoli is populated by more than one million. It lies at the western
extremity of Libya near the Tunisian border of the African continent.
It is one of the leading centers of Libya’s economy where businesses
flourish like oil, in banking, communications, finance, and
manufacturing. It is also where the largest international airport of the
country is located.
Regine, as she is fondly called, was just more than a year in her job
at Al Fardus Clinic when violence heightened in the newly-established
government against the militias, which controlled most of Tripoli, and
the Islamist groups which controlled most of Benghazi.
“Because of the chaotic situation, the Philippine government declared
level 3 which means voluntary repatriation for Filipinos,” explained
Regine. But few decided to go home as they believed the violence can be
contained.
The situation abruptly turned to worst. A Filipina was reportedly
gang-raped in Tripoli. There were reports of foreigners robbed off their
hard earned salaries (particularly those working in state-owned
institutions who receive salaries after six months) when they go to the
banks to send their (salaries) home. Other criminal activities became
un-controlled in that period of conflict. And she, personally, shared
that the Libyan situation was better during the time of Pres. Moamar
Kadhafi, who was toppled three years ago.
The situation at that time made the Philippine government declare a level 4 for Filipinos, who were forced to leave Libya.
Regine related their experiences in that war: combatants bombed
Tripoli’s sources of water, oil mines, and food processing-institutions.
They felt the hunger, including the absence of social services due to
the destruction of various industries. Even their hospital lacked
oxygen, electricity, water, medical supplies.
In the early part of August, 27 Filipino workers from Al Fardus
Clinic were among the Filipinos who, unfortunately and forcedly left
Tripoli and traveled to Libya’s border with Tunisia. From August 8 when
they left under heightened war conditions, they reached Tunisia City on
August 12. They able to rest in a hotel and got to the airport in the
morning of the 20th where they caught the Philippine Airline plane home
on the 21st.
Regine was among the 103 Cordillerans who were able to get home from
the 307 Cordillerans working in Libya. She narrated that she was not
considered a memberof the OWWA and therefore did not receive the OFW
financial relief of P11,000. She lamented that she was registere for the
first year with OWWA but only failed to register her 2nd year which was
but a few months before she was evecuated from Libya to come home.
While she is happy being home alive, she sees a dim future for her as
a nurse. “The job opportunities for nurses here is very slim,” she
said. From the thousands of licensed Filipino nurses, they are either
jobless or into other jobs, like in the call centers where job security
is also a big problem.
Still, going abroad is an open option for her – the government’s declared Bagong Bayani. # nordis.net
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