ASSISTANCE. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 6 (Western Visayas) releases cash and food assistance to Paterna Prodigo, mother of Grace Prodigo-Cabrera, the Ilongga overseas Filipino worker killed in Israel, on Oct. 20, 2023. The department has released PHP80,000 worth of cash and food assistance to the immediate family members of Cabrera and one other victim of the Israel-Hamas war who was from Negros Occidental. (Photo from DSWD FB page)
ILOILO CITY – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 6 (Western Visayas) has released PHP80,000 in cash and other assistance to the immediate family members of two overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who died in the Israel-Hamas war.
DSWD crisis intervention unit head Beverly Salazar, in an interview on Tuesday, said they released the first set of aid to the family of Loreta Alacre in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental, consisting of educational assistance for her two nephews, cash assistance, and food assistance, with a total amount of PHP40,000 on Oct 14.
Alacre, 49, worked as a caregiver in Israel for about 15 years. She was attending the Supernova Music Festival outside the Re’im Kibbutz near the Gaza Strip when the Hamas rampage happened on Oct. 7.
A similar amount of aid was released to the immediate family members of Grace Prodigo-Cabrera in the municipality of Maasin in Iloilo on Oct. 20.
Cabrera, 45, worked as a caregiver in Kibbutz Be’eri for almost five years.
To save her ward, she volunteered to go with the terrorist group Hamas and was reported dead several days after she went missing.
The DSWD provided cash assistance of PHP10,000 each to the two siblings of Cabrera while their mother, Paterna Prodigo, received PHP10,000 in cash and another PHP10,000 in food assistance.
Salazar added that Mary June Prodigo, the youngest sibling of the victim who is also working in Israel, could likewise avail of assistance in case she gets repatriated.
DSWD-6 Director Carmelo N. Nochete, in a previous interview, said the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) traced the other family members of Cabrera in Pampanga, where she got married.
“Rest assured that DSWD is ready to help those, who are affected by the conflict. We are also getting ready to help those who will get repatriated,” he said. (PNA)
