Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 18) — Sixteen Filipino repatriates, including a one-month-old baby, arrived in the country from war-torn Israel on Wednesday afternoon, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said.
They comprise the first batch of overseas Filipino workers that left Israel amid its ongoing conflict with militant group Hamas.
The sirens that provide alert in the event of a missile attack are what prompted Kathryn, a Filipino caregiver in Israel, to come home to the Philippines.
\”Every time may siren from the Iron Dome, traumatic yung sound para sa ‘kin,\” she said in a press briefing during their arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport
\”‘Yung missile po kasi from Gaza will go above sa amin,\” she continued. \”Naisip kong uuwi na lang ako kaysa kikita ako ng malaki kasi yung mental health ko hindi na healthy.\”
[Translation: Every time there is a siren from the Iron Dome, the sound is traumatic for me. Because the missile from Gaza will go above us. I thought I would just go home rather than make a lot of money because my mental health is no longer healthy.]
Mylene, another repatriated OFW, expressed fear over the attacks of the militant group Hamas.
\”Alam ko po walang sinasanto ang Hamas, babies, matanda, foreigners,\” she said. [I know that Hamas doesn’t spare anyone, even babies, elders, foreigners.]
The DMW along with Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and Department of Health (DOH) welcomed the returning Filipinos from Israel.
The government agencies provided them immediate assistance and other forms of support, including psycho-social counseling, stress debriefing, medical referral, and temporary accommodation while awaiting transit to their respective provinces.
Meanwhile, Sen. Raffy Tulfo, chairman of the Senate Committee on Migrant Workers, said the government has yet to hear an update on the three Filipinos still unaccounted for in Israel.
Authorities has so far confirmed that three Filipinos died due to the war between Israel and Hamas.
The war has caused more than 1,400 deaths in Israel and more than 3,000 in Gaza as of Oct. 17, according to officials from both sides.
