MANILA, Philippines (PNA) — Unknown individuals stole food provision of a group of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs)in Libya, among them Agustin Noble, who called the Philippine embassy in Tripoli and clarified that their team of 34 is physically safe and were not abducted as earlier reported by outsiders.

A late-breaking information from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Noble’s group is composed of workers of the Al-Ahar company, but did not indicate where it is based and if the OFWs opted for repatriation.

Meanwhile, the DFA also reported that the embassy in Cairo is abuzz with arrangements for the repatriation to Manila of those who have crossed into the country from troubled Libya, among them Judith Tuviera.

The engineer is now at an embassy facility for workers and will be repatriated, together with an estimated dozen of others who are on their way to the embassy from a Command Post in the Libyan-Egyptian border.

DFA Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (DFA-OUMWA) Executive Director Ricardo Endaya is overseeing the voluntary repatriation project and may be joined soon by Vice President Jejomar C. Binay, who received instructions from President Benigno Aquino III to personally monitor the developments there.

One of Endaya’s team mans the Command Post in Benghazi, north of Tripoli, while another handles the Command Post on the Libyan border with Tunisia on the northwest. As agreed with the Tunisian Government, Philippine-chartered airlines are allowed to land into Tunis to pick up Filipinos desiring repatriation.

Also, Filipino personnel of the Korean construction firm, Won Company, who earlier evacuated them by land from Tobruk in Libya, have arrived in Asalum in Egypt. They are expected in Manila over the weekend.

The DFA identified some of them as Engel Basa, Ruel Ascaño, Reynan Maranan, Joel Almeda, Joseph Dapitan, Joe Salas, Alex Villalobos, Michael John Noble, Elmer Legaspi, Frankie Saludaga, Jarie dela Cruz and Mark Sabay.

The United Nations-linked International Organization for Migration (IOM) is assisting the DFA in arranging commercial flights and ensuring that OFWs are included in any IOM-sponsored evacuation of migrant workers from Libya, according to DFA Undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr.

An initial amount of US150,000 from the DFA and a P25-million commitment from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and a soon-to-released share of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) keeps the repatriation program going.

The DFA-OUMWA is also receiving families of OFWs in its office at the DFA main building, briefing them about the government’s repatriation plans and assuring them that the DFA and the embassies are doing their best to locate their relatives and getting them out of harm’s way.

A few teary-eyed, frustrated family members, however, complain to reporters that they were forced to go to the DFA because the phone hot line numbers they were told to call have not been responding.

Conejos himself has bewailed the lack of communication facilities in the midst of the conflict and tension, particularly in Libya, where, he said, the lines appeared to have been “tampered with.”