Libya, Turkey to recall OFW ban

“Both ambassadors agreed that there is no basis for these travel restrictions. Both said that they will urge their countries to lift these restrictions immediately,” said Ople.
However, the decision of Turkey and Libya to recall the ban against Filipino travelers had been based on Ople’s strong statements pointing to the fact — as of Thursday night — that the Philippines was still a “SARS-free” country in the World Health Organization’s registry. That was Thursday night. On Friday morning, after Ople was able to persuade the two diplomats to recall the suspension of hiring of OFWs, came the official announcement of the Department of Health that there are officially four cases of SARS in the country.
But Ople stood firm that the Philippines remains a SARS-free country and that there is no reason to retain the ban on the deployment of Filipinos in Libya and Turkey.

“It takes a certain scale for a country to be declared SARS-infected,” said Ople, referring to the standards of the WHO.
Ople warned that there is no factual and legal basis yet for the Philippines to be declared SARS-stricken.
“You are not going to say that after [Health] Secretary [Manuel] Dayrit declared four cases of SARS, immediately we rise to the level of Hong Kong and China. It is a matter of proportions,” Ople stressed.
He warned that the Philippines will lodge a diplomatic protest against any country that issues a ban on Filipino workers and travelers.
“There is no medical or factual basis for anyone to discriminate against travelers coming from or going to the Philippines,” said Ople.

He said Adam told him that Libya had decided to issue the ban owing to the erroneous and exaggerated reports on SARS by the Philippine media.

“Ambassador Adam told me that Libya’s restrictions may have been based on erroneous and exaggerated Philippine media reports while Ambassador Sumer expressed surprise over Turkey’s travel restrictions and told me that he has been informed by the Turkish Foreign Ministry that the issuance of the restriction was a mistake,” said Ople.
He said the word “protest” did not come up in the conversation with the two ambassadors and he has received assurances that the two governments will rectify the situation.
“However, if no prompt and correct action is taken to our satisfaction, we will proceed with a more formal diplomatic protest,” said Ople.