CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Sen. Lito Lapid lauded yesterday acting Foreign Affairs Sec. Albert Del Rosario whom he “respects and admires for personally leading repatriation efforts for thousands of Filipinos in strife-torn Libya.”
In a statement, Lapid cited Del Rosario “for disregarding his own personal safety by going to Libya in order to help evacuate the first batch of Filipino workers stranded in Tripoli.”
“Secretary Del Rosario’s heroic act of going into harm’s way and personally bringing to safety more than 400 Filipino workers goes to show that the Philippine Government has been exerting serious efforts to rescue our kababayans displaced by the ongoing political crisis in Libya,” Lapid said.
President Aquino made the right choice in appointing Secretary Del Rosario,” the Kapampangan legislator said. “We need more Albert Del Rosarios in government.”
Senator Lapid cited reports that Del Rosario led a 55-vehicle convoy that traveled from Tripoli to the border region of Jerba in Tunisia where the rescued Filipinos were processed for repatriation to Manila.
Del Rosario, a businessman and former envoy to the United States, quietly left for Tunisia on Friday, just a day after Pres. Aquino swore him in as acting foreign affairs secretary. Despite serious security concerns, he proceeded by land from Tunisia to the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli where he oversaw the entire repatriation effort, Lapid noted.
The senator said that while he shared the concerns of the families of Filipinos still awaiting rescue in Libya, he also understood the constraints that initially prevented the government from responding immediately to the crisis.
He said “Filipino diplomats were doing the best they possibly could to assist Filipinos in Libya despite the limited resources they have at their disposal as well as the volatile security situation in the ground.”
Lapid said that as a result of these efforts, passenger aircraft and vessels are now available to bring the trapped Filipino workers home.
In a statement, Lapid cited Del Rosario “for disregarding his own personal safety by going to Libya in order to help evacuate the first batch of Filipino workers stranded in Tripoli.”
“Secretary Del Rosario’s heroic act of going into harm’s way and personally bringing to safety more than 400 Filipino workers goes to show that the Philippine Government has been exerting serious efforts to rescue our kababayans displaced by the ongoing political crisis in Libya,” Lapid said.
President Aquino made the right choice in appointing Secretary Del Rosario,” the Kapampangan legislator said. “We need more Albert Del Rosarios in government.”
Senator Lapid cited reports that Del Rosario led a 55-vehicle convoy that traveled from Tripoli to the border region of Jerba in Tunisia where the rescued Filipinos were processed for repatriation to Manila.
Del Rosario, a businessman and former envoy to the United States, quietly left for Tunisia on Friday, just a day after Pres. Aquino swore him in as acting foreign affairs secretary. Despite serious security concerns, he proceeded by land from Tunisia to the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli where he oversaw the entire repatriation effort, Lapid noted.
The senator said that while he shared the concerns of the families of Filipinos still awaiting rescue in Libya, he also understood the constraints that initially prevented the government from responding immediately to the crisis.
He said “Filipino diplomats were doing the best they possibly could to assist Filipinos in Libya despite the limited resources they have at their disposal as well as the volatile security situation in the ground.”
Lapid said that as a result of these efforts, passenger aircraft and vessels are now available to bring the trapped Filipino workers home.
