DFA: Consulate locating 50 Filipino teachers in Maui amid wildfires By GISELLE OMBAY, GMA Integrated News

At least 50 Filipino teachers who are currently in Maui are being located by the Philippine Consulate amid the massive wildfires that erupted in Lahaina on the island of Maui, Hawaii, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Tuesday. DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said the Philippine Consulate General in Honolulu is set to conduct a consular mission in Wailuku town in Maui to get more information on the matter, and ensure that the teachers were not in Lahaina. “We’ve also authorized them already to provide financial assistance to at least 50 Filipino teachers who are identified as being in Maui under J-1 visas. That’s for sure,” De Vega said in a CNN Philippines interview. The J-1 visa is granted to foreigners in the work-and-study-based exchange and visitor programs of the U.S. “They are in Maui and our consulate is locating them because we want to make sure that they’re not in Lahaina—the affected town. In the record, they are not in Lahaina, but they are in Maui. They may have been affected. They may have been on tourist purposes on the area,” he added. De Vega said that the DFA is ready to assist the teachers should they wish to be repatriated back to the Philippines. “Based on our experience, teachers, when they are in abroad, they won't ask to come home. They’ll ask assistance maybe to transfer jobs,” he said. According to the DFA official, at least 96 people have reportedly died due to the Maui wildfires, which is considered the deadliest in the US in more than a century. None of these fatalities were confirmed to be Filipinos yet, but De Vega said there might be Filipino-Americans among them. “We cannot confirm if anyone is a Filipino citizen. Unfortunately, we have to expect the worst because there will be some Filipino-Americans among the casualties because 17% of the population of Maui are Filipino-Americans,” he added. The Maui Filipino Chamber of Commerce said hundreds of Filipinos were among the more than 1,000 missing in the wildfires which started last week. On Monday, the Philippine Consulate General in Honolulu said it was receiving a rising number of calls and emails inquiring about the status of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans missing due to the wildfires. "Queries received by the Consulate requesting assistance in locating missing individuals and family members have increased," Consul General Emilio Hernandez told GMA Integrated News. "We continue to be in touch with local authorities in this regard and advise those who send such queries to access the following links for more information: Maui Fires People Locator American Red Cross (ARC) According to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), there are 200,000 pure Filipinos living in Hawaii. Sixty percent of them are American citizens. —VAL, GMA Integrated

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