1st batch of Pinoys arrives from Israel

THE first batch of 16 Filipinos — 15 caregivers and a month-old infant — arrived from war-troubled Israel on Wednesday.

Etihad Airlines flight EY594 carrying the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) touched down at 3:55 p.m. at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Home at last Mylene Rivera (wearing a cap) gets a hug from relatives upon her arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023, from Israel. PHOTO BY J. GERARD SEGUIA

One of the repatriates, Kathleen Tolentino, who worked as a caregiver in the central part of Tel Aviv, said “hearing the loud sirens every morning at 6:30 is what prompted me to go home.” She added that her mental health is more important than earning money.

Various government agencies, including the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Health (DoH), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Justice (DoJ) and Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (Tesda) vowed to provide assistance to the repatriates.

“Of the 30,000 Filipinos in Israel, only a few of them really wanted to go home. We, in the DFA, are working on the repatriation of Filipinos in Gaza. We are just waiting for them to cross from Gaza to Rafah, Egypt,” DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said.

De Vega added that the second batch of 14 OFWs is expected to arrive in the Philippines on Thursday, October 19.

Aside from financial assistance of P50,000 from the DMW and another P50,000 from OWWA, care packs were also distributed on Wednesday.

OWWA’s office said it would also provide hotel accommodation and transportation assistance for the OFWs going home to their respective provinces.

The OFWs, together with the baby, have also received medical assessment and psychosocial counseling initiated by the DoH.

‘Evacuate preemptively’

In the meantime, the Philippine Embassy in Beirut urged Filipinos near the Israel-Lebanon border to “evacuate preemptively” to ensure their well-being and security.

The embassy issued the advisory on Tuesday “due to the persistent tension in Lebanon’s southern border, posing a significant threat to the safety and security of civilian residents.”

An Associated Press report indicated that clashes erupted along the Lebanon-Israel border that left five Hezbollah fighters dead, marking the largest number of casualties for the militant group in a single day as tensions with Israel escalate.

“Given the unstable situation, Filipinos are reminded to avoid non-essential travel to South Lebanon,” the embassy said in a statement.

At present, there are 17,537 Filipinos in Lebanon.

In the Gaza Strip, Israel is also at war with Hamas militants, who pulled off a surprise attack on a Jewish state on October 7, resulting in scores of civilian deaths and drawing fierce retaliation from Israeli forces.

De Vega noted that in northern Israel near Lebanon, there are few Filipinos, “less than a hundred, who were asked to evacuate because of rocket attacks from Hezbollah, a terrorist organization in Lebanon.”

— Claire Bernadette  Mondares with a report from Bernadette E. Tamayo