The Department of Social Welfare and Department (DSWD) has provided financial aid as a form of augmentation to support the fourth batch of Filipino repatriates who arrived in the country from Israel on Monday (October 30).

The fourth batch of 64 overseas Filipino repatriates, including two babies, were welcomed by DSWD Program Management Bureau (PMB) Director Miramel Garcia-Laxa, together with other government officials, upon their arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Each overseas Filipino (OF) received Php 10,000 cash relief assistance and food assistance worth Php 10,000.

“Patuloy nating susubaybayan ang mga kababayan nating Filipino na galing sa Israel. Hindi tayo titigil sa pagbibigay ng tulong katuwang ang iba’t ibang ahensya ng gobyerno, dahil ang mga ito ay naapektuhan at nawalan ng trabaho,” DSWD Assistant Secretary for Strategic Communications Romel Lopez said.

(We will continue to monitor our fellow Filipinos who arrived from Israel. We, together with other concerned agencies, will also continue to assist them, because they lost their jobs.)

Asst. Sec. Lopez, who is also the DSWD spokesperson, added that most of the Filipino repatriates were hotel workers and caregivers in Israel.

To date, a total of 123 OFs have safely arrived in the country from Israel since the conflict between Israeli forces and the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, began on October 7.

Aside from the DSWD, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Administrator Arnaldo Ignacio, Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Officer-in- Charge Undersecretary Hans Leo Cacdac, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega, KABAYAN Partylist Representative Ron Sala, and representatives from the Department of Health (DOH) and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), also welcomed and assisted the repatriated OFs. #