Gov't execs stranded in Israel back in Phl

The 21 government officials who were stranded in Israel finally arrived in Manila yesterday after a grueling journey by land to Jordan and later to Dubai, from where they took a commercial flight home.

- MICHAEL PUNONGBAYAN and EMMANUEL TUPAS

The officials—in two groups—were concluding their respective study tours when Israel came under successive missile attacks from Iran, forcing the cancellation of flights. Iran said it was retaliating against Israel's attacks on its nuclear facilities.

The Israeli embassy said the delegates from local government units and the Department of Agriculture safely arrived at 5:55 a.m. at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla personally welcomed the officials at the NAIA Terminal 3.

Some of them were visibly emotional and hugged Remulla as they stepped out of the plane.

"We are just happy that they are safely home. They had gone through a lot," Remulla said.

"We were monitoring them 24/7 until they safely arrived," he said in a statement.

It was Remulla who signed the local officials' travel orders.

"Just to be clear, they're not in the path of danger. The closest was 10 kilometers away, but of course they went through a lot of stress," he told reporters in English and Filipino.

Remulla emphasized the officials received no special treatment, as they had to take a four-hour bus ride to Amman, Jordan and commercial flights to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and then to the Philippines.

No rescue mission Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said the departure from Israel of the 21 officials was not a rescue mission but a result of coordination with Israel officials.

"The reason why they are home is because their scholarship was from June 9 to June 20, so they really have to go home under their Israeli sponsorship," he said at the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City.

"It's not because we deliberately said 'let's rescue the stranded officials.' We were just coordinating with the Israelis who were the ones hosting them," he pointed out.