MANILA, Philippines — A total of 1,491 overseas Filipinos (OFWs) have already been safely moved out of Libya, most of them from Benghazi, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said Saturday.

Ninety-eight of these OFWs who escaped the turmoil in Libya arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Saturday after they were evacuated by their French employer from the strife-torn North African country.

As this developed, the Obama administration – dramatically sharpening its stance against Moammar Khadafy’s brutal crackdown on antigovernment protesters – is freezing billions of assets in the United States held by the Libyan government, Khadafy, and four of his children and abandoning the US Embassy in Tripoli.

EU arms embargo
Likewise, European Union (EU) nations agreed on Friday to slap an arms embargo, assets freezes, and travel bans on Libya, while terrified residents braced for bloody battles in Tripoli after a night of gunfire.

The shift in tactics after a week of caution came immediately after the US ensured that Americans were safely on their way out of the bloodsoaked North African country by air and by sea.

“By any measure, Moammar Khadafy’s government has violated international norms and common decency and must be held accountable,” President Barack Obama said in a statement Friday night announcing the sanctions, which he said were designed to target Khadafy’s government and protect the assets of Libya’s people from being looted by the regime. They struck directly at Khadafy’s family, which is believed to have amassed great wealth during his 42 years in control of the oil-rich North African nation.

Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz said the 1,491 OFWs were evacuated mostly under their employers’ contingency and safety plans.

“Of the 1,491 OFWs, 1,228 are being booked for flights in the transit countries – Tunisia, 14; Turkey, 60; Egypt, 1,154; and Madrid, 2.

Baldoz said the 14 OFWs in Tunisia are part of a group of 50 workers, 36 of whom would go home on March 2 via Doha, onboard Qatar Airways. The OFWs worked for Hanil Engineering & Construction, a Korean company.

“As of today, there are 204 OFWs who are in transit or about to board their flights for the Philippines. They are expected to arrive today and tomorrow,” Baldoz said.

The arriving OFWs are part of the 1,600-strong workers of SNC Lavalin in Benghazi, who have been escorted by Libyan nationals out of Libya to the border of Egypt, from where they were repatriated to the Philippines. The company’s remaining 446 workers in Benghazi will be evacuated to Alexandria, Egypt within the next 24 hours.

Another 105 OFWs are in a desert in Amal ready for evacuation. The Filipinos, who work at oilfields in Amal, have yet to receive information and assistance from the Philippine embassy.

LBS Recruitment Solution President Lito Soriano said the OFWs, which they deployed to Libya, were employees of the Vinci Construction Grand Projects, a French construction firm constructing a new airport in Tripoli.

The French company pulled out its workers from Libya through a chartered a flight from Tripoli to Paris, France, last Wednesday as tension worsens. A chartered flight brought the workers from the Tripoli International Airport (TIA) to the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.

For humanitarian reasons, the French Government allowed the Filipinos temporary entry in their country while their mother company booked them on their return flights to Manila.

“This was the first successful evacuation of OFWs by plane after the Libyan government shut down the operations of its airport in Tripoli,” he said.

Soriano said Vinci was able to secure a landing permit from Libyan authorities after coordinating with the French government.

The first batch of Filipino workers, 20 of them, arrived in the country Saturday morning aboard a Gulf Air flight from Paris via Bahrain.

The first batch arrived onboard a Gulf Air flight from Paris via Bahrain. The second batch of 17 workers arrived onboard Cathay Pacific flight CX901 via Hong Kong.

Thirty-nine other workers arrived via Singapore onboard two separate Singapore Airline flights, arriving at 1:10 p.m. and 4 p.m. Eight workers arrived via Vietnam Airlines, with five arriving via Qatar Air, and the last nine arriving onboard the 10 p.m. Cathay Pacific flight.

“There will be other flights, and we will disseminate the information about these as soon as we get confirmation,” Baldoz said.

Joseph Sarmiento, one of the construction workers who arrived with the first batch of evacuees, recounted how hard it was even just to get inside the TIA.

“Sobrang dami ng tao ang naghihintay sa labas ng airport para lang makapasok. Isipin mo, libu-libo ang nagsusumiksik na makapasok sa makitid na pintuan (A lot of people were waiting outside the airport. Imagine thousands of people trying to squeeze through a narrow doorway),” Sarmiento said.

“Bunduk-bundok na ang maleta duon sa labas ng airport kasi iniiwan lang ng mga tao yung mga gamit nila para lang makapasok. Pero hindi lahat ay pinapasok nila sa airport. Yun lang mga tao na naduon na ang eroplano ang pwede nilang papasukin. (There were tons of abandoned suitcases outside the airport. People were leaving behind their belongings just so they could get in. But not everyone was allowed inside; only those whose planes were already there)”

“Kami nga, halos dose oras kaming naghintay sa labas ng airport bago nakapasok dahil hindi agad nakalapag ang eroplano namin. (We had to wait almost twelve hours outside the airport because the plane we were going to get on couldn't land.)”

Juan Curachea, the 23-year-old payroll officer of the company, disclosed that people waiting outside the airport are required to stay 50 meters away from the terminal. He added that the company had to pay the Libyan military to escort them inside the terminal. “Mabuti na lang at nagbayad ng military yung kompanya namin para ma-escort kami papasok ng terminal. Duon sa loob ng terminal, maayos na and sitwasyon (Good thing our company paid military men to escort us into the terminal. The situation was relatively calm inside),” Curachea said.

The workers were one in saying how happy and appreciative they were in arriving back home. Although most of them admitted that Tripoli was generally peaceful, they said it was scary at night because they couldn’t go outside as they might get in the middle of the crossfire between government forces and the protesters.

More OFWs coming
Baldoz said 15 other OFWs employed by United States-based Akakus Craddok in Libya are scheduled to arrive today via a Qatar Airlines flight from Madrid, Spain, together with another OFW, Eduardo Granadozin.

“The Spanish engineers who are workers of Repsol Petroleum of Spain took with them the 16 Filipinos even if they were not Repsol Petroleum employees. For this, we thank the company and the government of Spain for allowing the OFWs to transit their country,” she said.

The mass voluntary repatriation was in line with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) advisory last Friday, ordering all recruitment agencies to activate their contingency plans in evacuating their employees from Libya.

According to the one-page statement, recruitment agencies are also required to submit their report on the developments of their emergency plans at POEA on Sunday.

Obama condemns Libyan government
Obama condemned “the Libyan government’s continued violation of human rights, brutalization of its people and outrageous threats.”

The administration faced increasing pressure to join more forcefully in an international chorus of condemnation against Khadafy, who has unleashed a frenzy of killing against a determined rebellion intent on ending his rule. Militiamen loyal to the strongman have been roaming the streets of Tripoli shooting at will, killing hundreds or thousands, even as an increasingly desperate Khadafy has lost hold of major portions of the country to rebel control.

The White House had held back while US citizens were still in Libya, despite criticism domestically and internationally that its response was insufficiently forceful. That changed quickly Friday after successful evacuations of embassy personnel and other US citizens on a chartered airplane and a ferry to Malta.

White House press secretary Jay Carney announced at an afternoon briefing – shortly after the flight carrying the last of the US embassy personnel left Libya – that sanctions were being drafted.
Carney said Khadafy’s “legitimacy has been reduced to zero in the eyes of his people.”

Hours later, the White House released an executive order signed by Obama detailing the penalties.

The US put an immediate freeze on all assets of the Libyan government held in American banks and other US institutions.

The sanctions also apply to assets held by Khadafy, himself, and three sons – heir apparent Seif al-Islam, Khamis and Muatassim – and a daughter, Aisha. The order directs the secretaries of state and treasury to identify other individuals who are senior officials of the Libyan government, children of Khadafy and others involved in the violence.

Stuart Levey, undersecretary for terrorism at the Treasury Department, said officials believe “substantial sums of money” will be frozen under the order. He declined to give an estimate.

Libya ranks among the world’s most corrupt countries and has enormous assets to plunder. Confidential State Department cables suggest that US banks manage hundreds of millions in Libyan assets, and the government has built a multibillion-dollar wealth fund from oil sales.

The executive order said that the instability in Libya constituted an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US national security and foreign policy.

But the White House stopped short of calling explicitly for Khadafy’s ouster, as France President Nicolas Sarkozy has done. The White House also held back, for now, from endorsing imposition of a no-fly zone in Libyan airspace as sought by some foreign diplomats, and a U.S. military response seemed unlikely.

That left the question of what impact the financial penalties could have on a desperate ruler who’s declared he’ll fight to the last drop of blood. The demonstrators, encouraged by the recent uprisings that brought down the leaders of neighboring Egypt and Tunisia, also insist they will fight on. Carney indicated Friday’s actions would not be the last word from the US and insisted the sanctions could work.

“The intent of the sanctions is to make it clear that the regime has to stop its abuses, it has to stop the bloodshed,” the press secretary said. “The determination about who should govern Libya has to be made and will be made by the Libyan people.”

UN mulls punishment
Meanwhile, United Nations Security Council members were mulling ways to punish Khadafy, his family, and his cohorts after the country’s ambassador to the UN beseeched them to help halt the deadly attacks that his once-close comrade has unleashed on anti-government protesters.

“I hope that within hours, not days, they can do something tangible, effective to stop what they are doing there – Khaday and his sons – against our people,” Ambassador Mohamed Shalgham, a childhood friend of Khadafy, said after addressing the council Friday. He joined his deputy Ibrahim Dabbashi in defecting. (With reports from AP, AFP, and New York Times)