MANILA – About 62 Filipinos, including two infants, from Israel will arrive in the country on Monday, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said on Saturday.
In a weekly forum at the Dapo Restaurant in Quezon City, DMW officer in charge Undersecretary Hans Leo Cacdac said the returning Filipinos would be the fourth batch of repatriates fleeing Israel amid its conflict with the Hamas militant group.
“For this fourth batch, there will be more hotel workers. Around 32 hotel workers and 28 caregivers are coming home… (The number of Filipino repatriates will be) 60 OFWs (overseas Filipino workers), plus two infants,” Cacdac said.
He said the DMW’s repatriation efforts, in partnership with the Overseas Welfare Workers Administration (OWWA) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), would continue.
The DMW’s labor attaché and OWWA’s welfare attaché continue to monitor the “rescue zones” in Israel where evacuated OFWs were brought, Cacdac said, noting that an augmentation team would be sent to the Middle Eastern state on Nov. 2 to boost the current personnel on the ground.
“Doon sa southern part na pinakamalapit sa Gaza border, ‘yun ang declared na ‘no entry zone’ ng Israeli defense forces, and ‘yung mga Filipino sa zone na ‘yun, nailikas sa safer ground. Kaya’t ‘yun ang pinupuntahan ng ating labor attaché at welfare officer, ‘yung mga rescue area (The southern part closest to the Gaza border has been declared a 'no entry zone' by the Israeli defense forces. The Filipinos in that zone were evacuated to safer grounds. That's where our labor attaché and welfare officer go, to the rescue areas),” he said.
“Hindi ko muna binibigay siyempre ‘yung mga tukoy na rescue area (I will not, of course, disclose yet the identified rescue areas). We also want to respect the security and the privacy of our OFWs na nadadala (that have been brought) to safer grounds.”
124 OFWs seeking repatriation from Lebanon
Meanwhile, about 124 OFWs from Lebanon have sought repatriation, Cacdac said.
The Philippine Embassy in Beirut is recommending the “voluntary repatriation” of Filipinos living in Lebanon, as border tensions rise between Israel and Hezbollah in the wake of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Cacdac said the DMW is already exhausting all efforts to ensure that the OFWs would arrive in the country at the “soonest possible time.”
“Hindi rin magtatagal at magkakaroon na rin tayo ng first batch na uuwi from Lebanon (We will soon repatriate the first batch from Lebanon),” he said. “Wala pa tayong (There is no) specific date (yet) but we’re looking at the possibility of this coming week na meron nang maililikas (that there will be repatriates) from there.”
Cacdac assured that the government is ready to provide reintegration and post-arrival assistance to repatriated OFWs.
2 missing Filipinos
Cacdac said the government is also coordinating with the Israeli defense forces to locate the two missing Filipinos in Israel.
“We’re hoping na mahahanap pa rin sila (that they would be found),” he said.
A Reuters report on Oct. 26 quoted the Israeli government as saying that more than half of the estimated 220 being held hostage by the Hamas in Gaza have foreign passports, including “two from the Philippines.”
The Israeli Embassy in Manila said Friday the two remaining missing Filipinos in Israel were “likely” kidnapped by the Hamas group.
Ready for ‘worst-case scenario’
Cacdac, meanwhile, assured that the government is prepared in case the Israel-Hamas conflict worsens.
The DMW is ready to help OFWs, he said, adding that crisis and contingency plans are already “in place.”
“Kung merong effect sa ating mga kababayan itong latest developments, rest assured, nagsagawa na ng paraan (If these latest developments will have an effect on our fellow countrymen, rest assured that we are already exhausting all efforts),” Cacdac said. (PNA)
