DFA Team Conducts Successful Assistance-To-Nationals Mission in Egypt and Israel
Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Eduardo José A. de Vega meets counterparts at the Egyptian Foreign Ministry in Cairo (top photo) and Israeli Foreign Ministry in Tel-Aviv (bottom photo). He was accompanied by Philippine Ambassador to Egypt Ezzedine H. Tago, Philippine Ambassador to Israel Peter R. Laylo, Jr., and a Special Assistant at the DFA Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs.
MANILA 04 December 2023 - A team from the Department of Foreign Affairs, led by Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Eduardo José A. de Vega, conducted a successful Assistance to Nationals (ATN) Mission from 11 to 19 November 2023 in Egypt and Israel.
The ATN Team and the Philippine Embassies in Cairo and Tel-Aviv assisted in sending off Filipinos who sought repatriation assistance. The repatriation was a result of close coordination by the two Posts with the Philippine Embassy in Amman, which has jurisdiction over the Filipinos in Gaza. Those who were repatriated from Cairo are actually Filipinos and their Palestinian family members who escaped the conflict in Gaza. They expressed their concerns on arrival logistics, which the ATN Team coordinated with the DFA in the Philippines and other partner agencies.
As part of their Mission, the ATN Team visited several pilgrimage accommodations in Israel that will be used as temporary shelters or, in case of evacuation, meeting points for Filipinos who are in distress and/or seeking repatriation. The Team also met 18 Filipino agricultural interns in a farm in Mishmar Ha’Shiva town and a Filipino organization in northern Israel. They visited Filipinos and their employers in a Dead Sea area hotel. The government of Israel provided the hotel as temporary shelter, following the Hamas-led attacks on their town that made their houses uninhabitable.
A critical portion of the Mission was the meetings of Undersecretary de Vega with top-level government officials in Cairo and Tel-Aviv to hand deliver Secretary for Foreign Affairs Enrique A. Manalo’s letters of gratitude for his Egyptian and Israeli counterparts. The meetings, which provided a platform for discussions on matters of mutual interest, also allowed Undersecretary de Vega to express the Philippines’ concerns and appeal for the release of Filipinos taken captive by Hamas during its 7 October 2023 attacks: Gelienor Pacheco and Noralin Babadilla.
Pacheco and Babadilla were captured during the Hamas-led attacks in the Gaza envelope area on the said date. They would be eventually released on 24 November and 29 November 2023, respectively, or less than two weeks after the ATN Team’s Mission concluded.
“We have enduring relations with Egypt and Israel. During these challenging times, the historical friendship between our countries and peoples is instrumental in facilitating our commitment to protect the welfare and promote the interests of Filipinos abroad. I thank Egypt and Israel for their assistance to our fellow Filipinos, and the strong bilateral cooperation that led to the release of Mr. Pacheco and Ms. Babadilla.” Undersecretary de Vega said.
He lauded the work of the Philippine Embassies in Amman (Jordan), Cairo, and Tel-Aviv in ensuring the safe passage of Filipinos and their families out of Gaza. Undersecretary de Vega likewise commended the Philippine Embassy in Doha (Qatar) for its diplomatic engagements in relation to the release of Babadilla. END
Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Eduardo José A. de Vega meets counterparts at the Egyptian Foreign Ministry in Cairo (top photo) and Israeli Foreign Ministry in Tel-Aviv (bottom photo). He was accompanied by Philippine Ambassador to Egypt Ezzedine H. Tago, Philippine Ambassador to Israel Peter R. Laylo, Jr., and a Special Assistant at the DFA Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs.