DFA eyes PH arrival of 40 Filipinos who exited Gaza by Friday or Saturday

The 40 Filipinos who evacuated from Gaza and crossed the Rafah border to Egypt are expected to arrive in the Philippines either by Friday or Saturday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Wednesday.

In a television interview, DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said authorities are still checking the evacuees’ data to determine if they are from the province or not.

“Ang tingin natin baka Biyernes o Sabado baka andito na kasi hindi pwedeng tumagal sa Egypt kasi maiksi lang ang transit visa nila,” De Vega said in a Balita Ko interview.

(We think they might already arrive here by Friday or Saturday because they can't last in Egypt as they only have a limited transit visa.)

Malacañang on Wednesday announced that the 40 Filipinos who exited Gaza through the Rafah Crossing are now safe in Cairo, Egypt.

With this, De Vega said they expect more Filipinos in Gaza to decide to cross the border.

Less than a hundred Filipinos still remain in Gaza, despite the city being placed by the Philippines under Alert Level 4 (mandatory repatriation).

“Ang tingin natin, malaki ang chance na tatawid ang mga ‘yan dahil ngayon, merong tayong balita na unti unting inaaprubahan ang [Palestinian] spouses, mga asawa. So good news po ‘yun,” the DFA official said.

(There is a good chance that more of them will cross because we now have news that Palestinian spouses are gradually being approved to cross. So that's good news.)

De Vega said the DFA is awaiting the announcement for the next batch of Filipinos who will be allowed to cross the Rafah border.

He also called on the Filipinos to take the opportunity once they are given the go signal to evacuate out of war-torn Gaza.

“Nananawagan ‘yung ating mga tanggapan doon na kapag lumabas ang next list kung sino lulusot, don’t delay…. ‘Pag sinabing tawid bukas, tawid na dahil hindi natin matitiyak ang kinabukasan kung bukas ang border or kung bibigyan kayo ng priority. Binibigyan tayo ng priority ng Israeli government at saka ng Egyptian government, so pagsamantalahan natin ‘to,” he added.

(Our offices there are appealing for Filipinos to not delay when the next list of those who will get through comes out.... When they say you have to cross tomorrow, cross already because we cannot be sure of the future if the border is open or if you will be given priority. We are given priority by the Israeli government and by the Egyptian government, so let's take advantage of it.) — RSJ, GMA Integrated News