OFWs from war-torn Israel return home

MANILA, Philippines —  Sixteen overseas Filipino workers, mostly caregivers, and an infant arrived in the country from war-torn Israel yesterday afternoon.

The OFWs flew from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel-Aviv, Israel to the United Arab Emirates, and then to Manila on Etihad Airways Flight EY464, which landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 at 3:20 p.m.

Caregiver Mylene Rivera, 47, from Pampanga, told The STAR that she experienced the scariest moment of her life.

“At around 7 p.m. last Oct. 7, while I was sleeping in the house of my alaga (ward), a 90-year-old Israeli woman, I heard a bomb explode and then another one, so I ran toward the room of my alaga and brought her to the bomb shelter and we stayed there for so many hours until the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) arrived and brought us to a safer place,” Rivera narrated in Filipino.

Shirley dela Cruz, 39, from Nueva Ecija, recounted seeing something “like fireworks in the sky” in the evening of Oct. 7 while she and her employer were driving away from Nir, Israel to the house of the latter’s son.

“The situation then was really scary; there were many Hamas militants who just stabbed people in the middle of the road,” Dela Cruz said.

She added that she would never return to Israel because of what happened to them.

“Ayoko na (Not anymore),” the OFW said.

She added that most of the Filipino caregivers suffered “panic attacks.”

The 16 of 17 OFWs were met at the NAIA by Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega, Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) officer-in-charge Hans Leo Cacdac, Sen. Ruffy Tulfo, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) deputy director General John Bertiz III, OFW party-list Rep. Marissa Magsino and Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco.

Cacdac said only 16 OFWs were able to come home because one was sick and not physically fit to board the flight.

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) earlier said that 18 Filipinos from Israel would receive financial assistance for work disrupted by the war between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza.

OWWA administrator Arnell Ignacio earlier said most of the