By Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
The department of foreign affairs has confirmed that a Filipino construction worker employed in Libya was decapitated after being kidnapped by an armed militia group July 15.
Spokesman Charles Jose told reporters at a Manila press conference Tuesday that the man's headless body had been found in advanced stages of decomposition in the country's second largest city.
"The male victim was kidnapped in Benghazi, allegedly for being a non-Muslim, after which the kidnappers made a demand of $160,000 for his release," said Jose.
He added that the man's employers negotiated with the kidnappers, and they were later referred to a hospital.
“He was likely already dead during the negotiations."
He said that the employers had not paid a ransom for the man, who is yet to be identified.
“According to information gathered by our Embassy, the vehicle he was riding in was stopped at a checkpoint and there were three of them in the car - a Libyan, Pakistani, and a Filipino - and he was allegedly singled out because he was a non-Muslim.”
The victim's relatives have been informed, but have requested his identity not be disclosed.
Since long-time dictator Muammar Gaddhafi was captured and killed in 2011, armed militias have taken over sections of the country.
“Foreigners in general become high-value targets for these groups,” Jose said, urging any Filipinos left in the country to immediately contact the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli to register for repatriation.
He added that four Filipinos and five other foreigners were reportedly abducted in an attack on a Libyan oilfield last week, after an assault officials blamed on Daesh.
This underscores "the escalating threat to the safety and security of Filipino oil workers in Libyan oil fields which have been targeted by armed groups in recent weeks.”
A total of seven Filipinos have now been abducted in the North African country this year, and the fate of another three seized in the Al-Mabruk oil field early last month remains unknown.
Libya has been wracked by conflict for the past four years, with rival governments and powerful militias battling for control of key cities and the country’s oil riches.
Of the 13,000 Filipinos working in Libya when the Philippine government ordered mandatory repatriation in July 2014, around 4,000 remain - many on salaries they could never expect back home.
Around 10 percent of the population of the Philippines works overseas.
