Imelda Marcos next to Philippine National Artist Vicente Manansala’s painting, the “Inang Bayan” or “Mother Country” in the lobby of the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City yesterday
Former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos yesterday urged Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi to step down to avoid more violence as opponents took control of more cities at the weekend.
Marcos, now a member of the House of Representatives, said she hoped Gaddafi would follow the example of her late husband, Ferdinand Marcos, who fled into exile to the United States after a four-day, bloodless “People Power” revolt in February 1986.
“I hope he would be like Marcos, no bloodshed,” said the 81-year-old, who met with Gaddafi in 1976 and persuaded him to help resolve the Muslim insurgency in the southern Philippines.
Unlike Gaddafi, former dictator Ferdinand Marcos did not order any attacks on hundreds of thousands of Filipinos who took to the streets to oust him 25 years ago.
Nearly 1,500 Filipinos have fled Libya amid escalating violence that has seen government forces attack protesters seeking Gaddafi’s resignation, according to the Philippine Department of Labour and Employment.
About 550 more Filipinos were travelling to Tunisia with Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and Foreign Undersecretary Esteban Conejos, who fetched them from Tripoli.
“The Filipinos will travel in a convoy of 55 vans and buses toward the Tunisian border,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said.
An estimated 31,000 Filipinos are in Libya, and authorities said at least 13,000 needed to be evacuated amid the escalating violence that has left hundreds and possibly thousands of protesters dead.
China said yesterday it had evacuated nearly 29,000 of its nationals from strife-torn Libya, where a popular uprising has left at least hundreds dead and triggered a mass exodus of foreigners.
The foreign ministry said around 2,500 Chinese citizens had already returned home and 23,000 more had been sent to Greece, Malta, Tunisia, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates, where they were waiting to board flights home.
Another 3,400 had left Libya by ship and were on their way to some of these countries, it added.
China has ramped up a huge air, sea and land operation to evacuate more than 30,000 citizens from oil-rich Libya—lauded in the state media as evidence of the nation’s growing might.
“The country’s growing comprehensive national strength has provided a strong backing to such a massive operation overseas,” the China Daily said.
The Global Times said the evacuation showed “the improved ability of the Chinese government to react swiftly to emergencies”, adding in its commentary that “the stronger China is, the more responsibilities it will have”.
China should “speed up naval construction and the construction of aircraft carriers” to help protect its “great power status”, the paper said.
China’s navy has dispatched the frigate Xuzhou to waters off the Libyan coast to help in the evacuation and protect ships carrying Chinese expatriates from the nation, the People’s Liberation Army Daily said. The foreign ministry said those remaining in Libya would be flown out or taken overland to Tunisia, without giving a figure for the number yet to be evacuated. DPA