Philippines Maids 'Rescued' from Gadhafi Kin

Philippine diplomats helped two Filipina maids slip out of the home of a relative of deposed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi after the women asked for a "rescue", according to the foreign ministry.

The pair left the house of one of Gadhafi's nephews and were picked up by embassy staff who were in position in two vehicles, ministry spokesman Raul Hernandez said on Tuesday.

Staff from the Philippine mission in Tripoli brought the two women to Tunisia, where they were waiting for a flight back to Manila, he added.

In a statement, he said: "Diana Jill Rivera and Mary Ann Ducos met up with an embassy team who waited in two cars near the residence where they worked. They left the residence without bringing with them any of their belongings."

The Filipino ambassador to Tripoli said the two women worked for a Gadhafi nephew, but it was unclear from his report where in Libya the rescue was carried out, Hernandez told AFP.

"They and their families had asked the Philippine government's assistance for their rescue and repatriation," he added.

Two other Filipina maids employed by another Gadhafi relative have told the embassy in Tripoli that they did not wish to be repatriated, Hernandez said.

In March, the Philippines said it received reports that four Filipina maids working for a relative of Gadhafi were asking to be allowed to go home, but their employer had refused.

As of late August, around 1,600 Filipinos were still believed to be in Libya, many of them nurses treating casualties of the months-long uprising against Gadhafi.

About nine million Filipinos work around the world, earning more money in a wide range of skilled and unskilled sectors abroad than they could in their impoverished homeland.