Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 18) — Eighteen Filipino agricultural studies graduates who were undergoing training in Israel when the war between the Jewish state and militant group Hamas broke out are back in the Philippines.
In a statement, the Pampanga Information Office said they arrived in Manila on Tuesday at 10 a.m. It said the local government sent a bus to bring them back to the province.
The Pampanga State Agricultural University graduates trained in Israel for 11 months under the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority’s agriculture training program. They were based at the KFAR Silver Campus and Ruppin Campus in Ashkelon City, some 15 kilometers away from the Gaza Strip where the conflict is now centered.
Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs said the first batch of Filipino repatriates is expected to arrive in the country Wednesday afternoon. Authorities are also working on bringing home the remains of three Filipinos who died in the first days of the Israel-Hamas war, while three remain unaccounted for.
