Manila: Philippine authorities said on Sunday
they have made contact with four Filipina maids employed by
deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's family, who went
missing amid the chaos of the rebellion.
A special Philippine envoy to Libya, Undersecretary
Rafael Seguis, was able to speak to one of the four maids, the
foreign department said in a statement.
"The (women) said they are safe and secure where they are
now but signified their desire to leave their employ and come
back home as soon as possible," it said, without elaborating.
It added that the Philippine embassy in Libya will assist
in the "safe release" of the four women, whose location was
not stated.
A diplomatic source told a news agency that releasing further
details on the four could jeopardise their safety.
Last week, Vice-President Jejomar Binay, who also acts as
a special adviser on Filipino overseas workers, reported that
the four were missing and had made a tearful call to a
relative at home for help in getting out of Libya.
In March, the Philippines said it received reports that
four Filipina maids working for a relative of Gaddafi were
asking to be allowed to go home, but their employer had
refused.
The four were initially employed at a Gaddafi family
house in Tripoli, but were later transferred to Sirte, the
deposed dictator's hometown in mid-March, the foreign
department said at the time.
The department could not say if the four maids were the
same ones reportedly trapped in March.
As of late August, around 1,600 Filipinos were still
believed to be in Libya, many of them nurses treating
casualties of the months-long uprising against Gaddafi.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, September 04, 2011, 18:05