Grief, ‘hero’s welcome’ for Negrense caregiver killed in Israel
BACOLOD CITY—Grieving relatives greeted the homecoming of Leah Mosquera, the Negrense caregiver who died of serious injuries following an Iranian missile attack in Israel last month.
Accompanied by her younger sister Mae Joy all the way from Israel, Mosquera’s remains were flown from Manila and arrived at Bacolod-Silay airport at 6:50 a.m. on Thursday.
Amid the mourning, government officials led by Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) regional director Glenda Aligonza and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration regional director James Mendiola were present for Mosquera’s final journey home, applauding her as “a modern-day hero.”
“Welcome home, Leah Mosquera. Salamat at paalam (Thank you and farewell),” read a streamer put out by the provincial government.
Biggest contributors
“She was an OFW (overseas Filipino worker) who sacrificed her time away from home to give her family a better life,” said Lacson, noting that OFWs continue to be the biggest contributors to the country’s economy through their remittances.
In recognition of this, the governor announced that the provincial government is providing P190,000 in assistance to Mosquera’s family. He also assured the families of Negrense OFWs that the provincial government’s help desk would always be open to assist them and their relatives in Israel who needed support.
From the airport, Mosquera’s body was taken to a funeral parlor for preparation before she was brought home to Barangay Guintorilan in San Enrique town, about 35 kilometers from Bacolod City, for the wake.
Mosquera, 49, died in a hospital in Israel on July 13, 28 days after she was wounded from a blast on June 15 when an Iranian missile struck the flat that she shared with her sister Mae Joy and three others in Rehovot City.
Lacson said he was told that a friend of Mosquera’s from Pontevedra town, who was wounded in the same missile attack, was planning to return to Negros Occidental in order to recover from the trauma.
DMW records showed that 1,712 Western Visayas residents are working in Israel, including 210 from Negros Occidental.
