Malta evacuation from Libya irks Filipinos

The Filipino press has raised questions over a decision by their Italian consul to rent a passenger ship for €1.6 million to evacuate overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Tripoli in August 2014, instead of Virtù Ferries’ high-speed catamaran ship.

766 Filipino workers were evacuated in 2014 from Libya via Malta, and there were complaints later about the harsh conditions they experienced on board the government-chartered ship, the F/B Bridge.

“Upon their arrival in Manila from Malta, the evacuees showed the media cell phone camera recordings of their voyage, which include footage of them sleeping on the ship’s floor and of not being provided with food or water on the long day’s journey from Libya to Malta,” the Philippines Daily Inquirer reported.

Questions on the F/B Bridge contract were raised in Malta at a summit of the European Network of Filipinos in the Diaspora (ENFID) with the outgoing consul of the Philippines in Malta, Kevin Attard – the CEO of Attard Services Ltd.

Attard said he had negotiated a reduced price of €300,000 for Virtù Ferries’ catamaran, which had been used by the US embassy in the evacuation of its nationals from Libya during the civil war.

But the Philippines’ consul-general in Rome, Leila Lora-Santos made contact with him to inform him that other arrangements had been made.

Instead a contract was signed with Alex Polidano of Ocean Marine Services for the F/B Bridge for an alleged $1.8 million.