Only Filipino victim in Libya hotel attack now in stable condition

Early demonstrations of hostilities in Libya, 2011 (Wikipedia)

MANILA — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said that only one Filipino was injured in the terrorist attack on a luxury hotel in Libya.

In a statement, Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said Veron Pesigan Matoto, an engineer, who sustained five gunshot wounds, is now safe and recuperating at a hospital in Tripoli.

“She is recuperating. Once she is repatriated, her family and she will receive proper assistance from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration even if she is not an active member,” she said, after she received a report on the condition of the Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) from Labor Attaché Nasser Mustafa.

Matoto was an employee of APR Energy Libya Company, but Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) records show she was deployed as employee to Kentz Engineers and Constructors.

The OFW sustained two gunshot wounds in the chest, one in the arm, one in the knee, and one in the leg.

She will be airlifted to Malta or Turkey, where she can get better treatment as the hospital there do not have the ample equipment, while awaiting repatriation to the Philippines.

OWWA will provide Matoto with repatriation assistance, which includes such services as airport assistance, temporary shelter at the Halfway Home, psycho-social counseling, stress debriefing, and provision of transport services or fares for her onward travel to her home province, if she is from one.

Likewise, Matoto can avail of training on value formation, financial literacy, entrepreneurial development training (EDT), techno-skills and capacity building before she decides whether to work again locally or engage in some entrepreneurial activities, if she decides not to go abroad anymore.

Baldoz said the POEA would also assist in facilitating the payment of the OFW’s salaries and benefits from her employer.