Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered government agencies to come up with “strong repatriation plans” for the Filipinos fleeing the conflict in Israel and assured assistance to those who would be brought home.
During a meeting in Malacañang on Thursday with government agencies directly involved in looking after the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), the President said the administration was closely monitoring the war and was being provided with updates on the situation by the Israeli government.
He urged the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) “to develop strong repatriation plans and explore all evacuation strategies to assist affected Filipinos.”
Marcos said the repatriated Filipinos will receive financial, livelihood, scholarship and food assistance from the government.
On Friday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) confirmed the death of a 49-year-old female caregiver from Cadiz City, Negros Occidental, the third Filipino to be killed in the clashes between Israeli forces and Hamas militants from the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
The caregiver was identified as Loreta Alacre.
Anabella Alacre, sister of Loreta, said from Cadiz on Friday the Philippine Ambassador to Tel Aviv called their sister based in Kuwait on Thursday to confirm Loreta’s death.
Anabella said Loreta had been working as a caregiver for 15 years in Haifa and Tel Aviv.
She added that the DMW officer in charge, Undersecretary Hans Leo Cacdac, called her and committed to help their family.
Anabella said her sister was among the revelers attending the Supernova Music Festival outside the Re’im Kibbutz, near the Gaza Strip, when it was attacked by Hamas fighters.
Anabella said her sister’s employer, Noam Solomon, revealed in a social media post that Loreta was with her Chinese boyfriend at the festival.
Solomon said Loreta’s partner was shot in the back during the attack, but was rescued by Israeli forces and taken to the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon City, Israel.
The employer said they could not talk with Loreta’s partner, since Israeli authorities had barred entry to the hospital due to security reasons.
Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson assured the family of Alacre of help from the provincial government.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said three Filipinos are listed as missing in Israel, and a fourth one is being confirmed.
“However, it doesn’t mean that there is no hope because as we said before, there were a lot more missing a week ago — ngayon paunti nang paunti (the numbers are dropping). So possibly, these three will still show up, we hope,” he said.
According to the DFA, there are 30,500 Filipinos living in Israel, 99 percent of them caregivers.
The department has raised Crisis Alert Levels 2 and 3 in Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Cacdac said 19 Filipino caregivers and three hotel workers have requested to be flown home.
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian said he has ordered the department’s Operations Group, led by Undersecretary Pinky Romualdez, to work closely with the DMW in drawing up a list of Filipinos who want to leave Israel.
Gatchalian said the DSWD will prepare the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) and Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) for the repatriated Filipinos.
Based on Romualdez’s talks with Cacdac, an initial eight OFWs will arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) anytime next week, Gatchalian said.
He said he was also informed by Romualdez that personnel from DSWD Field Office in the Ilocos Region were able to communicate with Erlinda Aguirre, the mother of Filipina nurse Angelyn Aguirre, at her home in Binmaley, Pangasinan, on Thursday.
The 33-year-old Aguirre and her Israeli elderly patient were killed by Hamas militants during the initial wave of attacks on October 7.
Reports said she had a chance to escape, but decided to stay with her patient instead.
According to Regional Field Office Director Marie Angela Gopalan, social workers from the regional office will provide psychosocial intervention, such as counseling and stress debriefing, to Aguirre’s family who are still in shock and grief.
De Vega also reported that at least 92 Filipinos in Gaza want to be repatriated.
Citing information from the Philippine Embassy in Jordan, he said there are 131 Filipinos in Gaza, including three tourists.
“Not one has been repatriated yet because of the fact that Gaza is under blockade. But we are working on it. We are working with our diplomatic partners,” de Vega said.
De Vega said efforts are currently “concentrated” on the Palestinian territory besieged by Israel.
He said, “Nobody now can get in and out of Gaza, so repatriation, of course, is not possible at this time, unless the humanitarian corridors will open.”
The Philippines is counting on other countries in the region to work for the opening of humanitarian corridors as well as to extend assistance to trapped Filipinos, de Vega said.
The member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, he said, have offered to help evacuate Filipinos in the conflict areas.
“Indonesia is offering to help Filipinos who want to leave the West Bank. While they have no presence in Gaza, obviously, but they have citizens in Gaza so they are asking our assistance. So, it’s an international approach,” he said.
De Vega said the Philippine Embassy in Cairo is preparing to fetch Filipinos once repatriation efforts become possible.
Some of the embassy officials are already at the border.
“We are providing them funding to be able to rent transportation to bring them from the border to Cairo and to fly them to the Philippines, these 92 (Filipinos),” de Vega said.
“Right now, the situation in Israel is more stable so efforts are now concentrated on Gaza,” de Vega said.
In the House of Representatives, Deputy Minority Leader Bernadette Herrera-Dy (Bagong Henerasyon Party-list) is hoping for a “negotiated ceasefire” in Gaza to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid and the safe evacuation of civilians.
“Let us hope and pray for a negotiated ceasefire so humanitarian aid and safe evacuations of civilians, especially the wounded, elderly, and children can take place under the supervision of the United Nations,” Herrera-Dy said.
She said some Filipinos do not want to go home, opting instead to be relocated to another Mideast country where they could wait out the conflict.
— Eugene Y. Adiong, Catherine S. Valente and Red Mendoza
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Credit belongs to: www.manilatimes.net
