10 Filipino nurses held captive by IS arrive in Manila

Updated March 6, 2017, 12:11 PM

By Roy C. Mabasa

Ten Filipino nurses previously held captive by ISIS in Libya are now back in the Philippines, Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. has announced.

MB FILE – Speaking during a forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, on September 15, Secretary of Foreign Affairs Perfecto Yasay Jr. emphasized that the Philippines still regards the US as a trusted ally but will not listen to lectures on human rights. (AFP | Manila Bulletin)

Secretary of Foreign Affairs Perfecto Yasay Jr. (AFP | Manila Bulletin file photo)

In a televised interview Monday, Secretary Yasay reported that the Filipino nurses arrived in Manila Sunday night and were immediately subjected to debriefing.

“Some of the nurses taken by ISIS were terrified,” he disclosed.

The nurses were at the Ibn Sinai hospital in Sirte when the Libyan city was overran by ISIS members in June 2015.

The radical militants imprisoned the nurses, but upon discovering they were Muslims, released them on condition that they reside in the city’s main hospital to provide medical care and teaching to wounded fighters. This included basic measures on how to give first-aid to their fellow jihadists, according to the unidentified medical worker.

Authorities later freed the nurses after Sirte’s recapture.

Yasay expressed his gratitude to the Libyan government for extending assistance for the swift release of the Filipino nurses.

Tags: captive, DFA, filipino nurses, ISIS, Libya, Manila Bulletin, Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr.