PH gov’t officials back home from Israel study tour amid Mideast tension

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla answers questions from the media during a Palace press briefing in Manila City in this file photo taken on January 13, 2025. INQUIRER.net/Ryan Leagogo

MANILA, Philippines — The 21 Philippine government officials who were in Israel for a study tour amid escalating tensions in the Middle East have returned home on Saturday morning.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla welcomed the officials back to the country at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 3.

“They took a bus from Kibbutz Kalya to Amman, Jordan. Commercial flight to Dubai. Commercial flight to return home here in Manila,” Remulla explained in Filipino during an interview after the officials had arrived.

The 21 officials were on an invitational tour paid for by the Israeli government to learn about the Middle Eastern country’s agricultural practices, according to Remulla.

The Filipinos on the study tour were two Department of the Interior and Local Government regional directors, 15 local government officials and four Department of Agriculture personnel, Remulla further detailed.

The tour was set to run from June 9 to 20.

“We are just happy that they are safely home. They went through a lot. We really were monitoring them 24/7 until they returned home safe,” Remulla said in a mix of Filipino and English.

READ: 21 PH officials stuck in Israel to return to PH by weekend — DFA

Tensions in the Middle East escalated when Israel launched preemptive strikes against military and nuclear facilities in Iran on June 13. /jpv