DFA exec: Mandatory evacuation of Filipinos in Israel not yet considered ---- By ANNA FELICIA BAJO, GMA Integrated News

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said Tuesday that mandatory evacuation amid the massive attacks launched by Palestinian militant group Hamas in Israel is not yet being considered. "Not yet considered," De Vega told GMA News Online when asked if there’s a possibility of imposing mandatory evacuation. "Mandatory is, in case there is breakdown of authority and absolute war. Israel has a stable government," he added. De Vega said the situation in Israel is already stabilizing, adding that mandatory evacuation could be considered if there will be attacks in Tel Aviv. According to OWWA Administrator Arnell Ignacio, two Filipinos have been wounded amid the conflict. Ignacio said that one of the wounded Filipinos was hospitalized in a Health Liaison Office (HLO) while the other, who suffered from suffocation, was staying in a hotel in Tel Aviv. Further, Ignacio said there were seven Filipinos that are unaccounted for. The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), meanwhile, said that at the proper time, authorities will repatriate Filipinos in Israel who wish to go back to the Philippines. In a radio interview, DMW officer-in-charge Hans Cacdac explained that there would be safety and security concerns if they mass evacuate the affected Filipinos in Israel now. "Sa tamang oras, sa tamang panahon, in coordination with the Israeli authorities, ay tayo ay magsasagawa evacuation-repatriation doon sa mga nagnanais umuwi. Kapag dumating sa punto ng mandatory repatriation, ay isasagawa rin natin ito," Cacdac said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview. (We will conduct evacuation-repatriation for those who wish to return home at the right time, in coordination with the Israeli authorities. When it comes to the point of mandatory repatriation, we will also carry that out.) As of Monday, 22 Filipinos, who sought help from the Philippine Embassy, have been rescued and transferred to safer areas or housed in hotels. There are currently 30,000 Filipinos, mostly caregivers, in Israel. For their safety, Filipinos have been advised to stay indoors and follow instructions by local authorities. On Saturday, Hamas launched the biggest attack on Israel in years, firing rockets and deploying gunmen to several Israeli towns. A “state of war alert” was issued by Israel’s Home Front Command thereafter. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

POPCOM, gagamit ng ‘digital platforms’ para pagtibayin ang mga ugnayang pampamilya

Mas pinalalawig ng Komisyon sa Populasyon at Pagpapaunlad (POPCOM) ang adhikain nitong pagpapalaganap at pagpapabuti ng pakikipag-ugnayan ng mga nakakatandang Pilipino sa kanilang mga anak na nagdadalaga at nagbibinata. Nitong Setyembre 21, ang POPCOM ay nagsagawa ng isang “parent-teen talk webinar” gamit ang Zoom, kung saan ang isang “interactive program” ang nagbigay ng naaayon na kaalaman at kasanayan sa mga magulang, habang tumulong ito sa mga anak na teenager na maabot ang kanilang buong potensyal. Hinikayat din nito ang mga nanay at tatay na sumali sa malayang usapan, lalo na sa mga usapin ukol sa sex at sekswalidad, na nakikitang makakatulong upang bumaba ang mga bilang ng mga pagbubuntis sa hanay ng mga kabataan. Maaaring mapanood ang webinar sa https://youtu.be/lZ9jrJCjYas. Ayon kay Ikalawang Kalihim (Undersecretary) Juan Antonio A. Perez III, MD, MPH, “ang webinar ay naging isang tagapag-simula at ‘padaluyan’ ng pag-uu
Read more

UP Diliman Professors Share Scientists’ Procurement Struggles at Senate Hearing

By Harvey Sapigao Senate hearing of the revised procurement law (Photo credit: Senate of the Philippines) College of Science (CS) Dean Giovanni Tapang held up a little white device as he finished his presentation. “This is a ₱150,000 component,” he described. “Isa lang gumagawa nito sa buong mundo, pero ang hirap pilitin sila na magregister sa PhilGEPS,” he continued, referring to the requirement that foreign companies must first register to the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) before they can sell products to local scientists. Marine Science Institute (MSI) Deputy Director Dr. Irene Rodriguez explained that the small device is a resin that filters metals in water. “May budget tayo,” she said, “pero ang problema ko ay ‘yung resin na ito.” This and other bottlenecks brought about by the procurement law, or the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184), slow down research and development in the country. UPD leaders were invited to the Senate he
Read more

Gaza war rages into fourth month as Blinken tours Middle East Adel Zaanoun with Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem, --- Agence France-Presse

The Israel-Hamas war raging in Gaza entered its fourth month on Sunday as the army again pounded the besieged Palestinian territory and US top diplomat Antony Blinken was back in the region seeking to avoid a wider escalation. Israeli airstrikes overnight and early Sunday killed at least 64 people in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory, said its health ministry. It said two journalists were killed when their car was struck. The ministry, medics, and witnesses identified them as Mustafa Thuria, a video stringer for Agence France-Presse, and Hamza Wael Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Gaza who earlier lost his wife and two other children in an Israeli strike. Israeli bombardment also claimed other civilian lives in the southern city of Khan Yunis and in the Rafah area near the Egyptian border, where many of the territory's displaced people have sought refuge, AFP correspondents reported. Relatives were mourning the dead at Khan Yunis' European Hospital, am
Read more