37 Pinoys, Palestinian husbands flee Gaza

MANILA, Philippines - At least six Filipino families, including some of the Palestinian husbands, are on their way out of the Gaza Strip as mutual ceasefire was earlier declared in the area.

Philippine Foreign Affairs spokesperson Bayani Mangibin told GMANews.TV in an interview on Monday that the 37 Filipinos are en route to the Gaza-Egypt border of Rafah. It is unclear how many Palestinian husbands are included in the evacuation.

"Egypt finally opened its border and they are letting the Filipinos in," Mangibin said.

Some Filipinos were hesitant at first to leave the conflict-ridden area as the Israeli government refused to let their Palestinian husbands exit Gaza.

"Because of the successful effort of our Philippine embassy in Tel Aviv [Israel], the Palestinian husbands are allowed to move out," Mangibin added.

But the Palestinian nationals won't be allowed entry to the Philippines right away, said lawyer Gary Mendoza of the Immigration bureau.

Under Philippine immigration laws, the Palestinian nationals need to secure a temporary visit visa with neighboring countries like Egypt, Jordan or Israel before they could enter the country.

"I've been speaking with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and they have assured me that special considerations might be made for the Palestinians on humanitarian grounds," Mendoza said in an interview.

Last January 8, a total of 16 Filipinos returned to the country using the Israel-Gaza border of Erez as their exit point. A Filipino nun, who was among the first batch of evacuees, stayed in Jerusalem under the care of a Latin patriarch.

Fifty-four other Filipinos remain in Gaza, a narrow strip of land about the size of Siquijor Island, that is wedged between Israel and Egypt along the Mediterranean Sea.

On December 27, the six-month truce between Palestine and Israel was lifted in Gaza. Since then, Israel has relentlessly pursued Hamas militants leaving more than 600 civilians dead. - Mark Joseph Ubalde, GMANews.TV

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