Filipino workers ‘debunk negative concepts about Israel' - interview

A banner on the low stone fence outside the Philippines Embassy in northern Tel Aviv features the portrait images of Angeline Aguirre, Loretta Alacre, Grace Cabrera, and Paul Vincent Castelvi alongside a pink ribbon tied in the shape of a heart. The four are among the 1,200 victims massacred by Hamas terrorists on October 7. 

On the other side of the ribbon are the images of Noralin Babadilla and Gelienor Pacheco, who are missing and presumed to be among the hostages in Gaza, but there is no confirmation of this. All six names are printed in Hebrew and English.

On the ledge of the fence, beneath the banner, lie the remains of many memorial candles.

 At its peak, the Filipino community in Israel numbered 30,000, which is approximately the same as the Thai community, said Philippines Ambassador to Israel Pedro Laylo Jr. While the Thai workers are mostly employed in agriculture, the Filipinos work primarily as caregivers; however, according to an agreement made in 2021 between the Philippines and Israel, Filipinos have also been employed in the country as hotel workers.

Immediately following the outbreak of the current war between Israel and Hamas, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered the repatriation, at his government’s expense, of Filipino residents in the more dangerous areas of Israel and Gaza. In the case of those in the West Bank and Gaza, special permission is required from COGAT, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories.

No foreign national, including Filipinos, may leave Gaza without first being checked by COGAT to ensure that he or she is not a Hamas terrorist, said Laylo. He was pleased that a number of Filipinos have succeeded in crossing from Gaza into Egypt, where they were met by the Philippines ambassador to Cairo, who took care of their needs until they could catch a flight home. But there are many more Filipinos still stranded in Gaza along with thousands of other desperate people waiting for the opportunity to get out.

It has been much easier in Israel.

The ambassador and embassy staff have already sent seven contingents of 66 people each on flights home to the Philippines. Those in need of financial assistance, accommodation, and food have been helped.

Returning to Israel after the war?

Some have stated their desire to return to Israel when the war is over, but in such cases, they will have to pay for their own airline tickets from the Philippines to Israel.

Meanwhile, they have all given power of attorney to an Israeli lawyer hired by the embassy to ensure that any outstanding wages due to workers will be paid in full.

Although this is Laylo’s first diplomatic posting, he is no stranger to war. He was a high school student during the early-1970s war between the Muslim separatist rebels and the Philippines army, in which more than 120,000 people were killed. His school was next to the mortuary, and every day he saw truckloads of dead soldiers arriving.

The war between Israel and Hamas has had an emotional impact on the ambassador, and he is hopeful that the two missing Filipinos are alive in Gaza and that they will eventually be released together with the other hostages.

Camille Jesalva is a source of pride and joy to Filipinos in both Israel and her native country. Her courage, devotion, and quick thinking, along with the inbred Filipino characteristic of respect for authority, enabled the caregiver to save not only her own life, but also that of her 95-year-old employer, Nitza Hefetz. Jesalva offered to give a Hamas terrorist all her money and her mobile phone, and she spoke to him in a respectful manner. He took the money and the phone, and after walking through the house to see if there was anything else he could take, he left the two women alone.

Jesalva had been scheduled to take a vacation to the Philippines, and showing her ticket to the terrorist may have helped save her life.

But she’s still in Israel, said the ambassador. She is devoted to her employer and refuses to leave her under the present circumstances.

A video-taped interview with Jesalva, conducted by the Israel Embassy in the Philippines, went viral. An Israeli who heard it offered to pay for her round-trip fare to visit her family, when she’s ready to go.

Laylo hopes to arrange a meeting for Jesalva with President Marcos. He may also ask Ilan Fluss, Israel’s ambassador to the Philippines, to join him in writing a letter to Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, recommending that Jesalva be awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor.

The devotion of Filipino caregivers to their employers and to children with disabilities, for whom they also care, is legendary. “It’s part of the Filipino DNA,” Laylo said.

Indeed, burned-to-death terrorist victim Angeline Aguirre was found with her arms around her dead employer, whom she was trying to protect.

“When you show love, it is reciprocated,” Laylo added.

In the Philippines, he continued, grandparents live with the family, who take care of them in their old age rather than sending them to a retirement home – a mark of appreciation for the people who raised them.

In fact, Herzog, in conversation with Laylo, enthused about the wonderful care his late mother Aura had received from her Filipino caregiver.

Filipinos who have returned home will not be replaced in the foreseeable future, a fact that Israelis who are out of work might care to consider.

Nonetheless, there are still 22,173 Filipinos employed as caregivers.

Why do they stay?

Simply because they can earn much more money here than in the Philippines, even though many of them are university graduates, explained Laylo. “They look after people in Israel so that they can support their families at home.”

Another reason is that Filipinos, who are mostly Catholic, are keen to work in the Holy Land, and when they leave, they become very good ambassadors for Israel, said Laylo, noting that these former employees debunk negative concepts about Israel.

“The Filipinos are very pro-Israel,” he declared. He himself is not Catholic, but a born-again Christian, attending services every Saturday at a congregation in Herzliya.

The first time he came to Israel was as a pilgrim in 2015. “I said that the next visit would be longer, so they sent me here for six years,” he quipped. During that first visit, he tattooed the inside of his arms – a large menorah on the right arm, and a dove of peace on the left – which seemed somewhat strange, as tattoos are generally meant to be seen. They are seen, Laylo clarified. Born-again Christians raise their arms in the air when they pray, and when they raise their arms, everyone can see their tattoos.

Israel and the Philippines established diplomatic relations in 1957, the year in which the former prime minister Golda Meir, then foreign minister, visited Manila.

The Jewish community of the Philippines, though very small, is active and has contributed goods and funds to the Jewish state over the past month. It has also been somewhat depleted by its Chabad community, which was in the process of building a Chabad center on the island of Siargo. According to Laylo, 130 Chabadniks returned to Israel to serve in the army.

The Jewish community in the Philippines suffers far less from antisemitism than do Jews in other countries, noted Laylo – an assertion confirmed by other embassy personnel.

Even when there are pro-Hamas demonstrations, most of the participants don’t know what Hamas is, he contends. “They’re just shouting.”