• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Loreta Villaren Alacre, the 49-year-old Negrense caregiver killed in the Hamas attacks in Israel, is finally home in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental.
It took almost two weeks for her remains to arrive in the country after she died on Oct. 7, and was among the four confirmed Filipino fatalities, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The remains of Alacre, which arrived at about 5:56 a.m. yesterday at the Bacolod- Silay Airport, was fetched by her siblings, representatives of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
She last came home in 2017.
The transport of her body to a funeral parlor in Cadiz City was facilitated by the city government.
A wake will be held in the house Loreta built for her family in Sitio Camay-an Barangay Cadiz Viejo starting today, Oct. 23.
Loreta’s sister, Lorena Alacre, said their main concern now is how to finance the education of their nephews and nieces, which was then being shouldered by Loreta.
Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez has extended a financial assistance of P500,000 to the family of Alacre, which was received by Loreta’s siblings last week.
Loreta is scheduled to be buried on Nov. 5 at a public cemetery in Barangay Caduha-an.
Cadiz City Mayor Salvador Escalante said they are studying interventions on how to assist the siblings of Loreta, with six of them dependent on her, aside from her nephews and nieces.
He said the family has not asked for other assistance from the city government.
“I think they have everything they need (for the funeral expenses) with the assistance they are getting from the national government,” he added.
The OWWA has put up a tarpaulin outside the Alacre home to express their sympathy to the bereaved family while the city government of Cadiz repaired the road and placed lights going to the house.
In a statement, the OWWA said that Loreta had been described by her Israeli employee as a “dedicated caregiver”.
OWWA-6 Regional Director Rizza Joy Moldes, DMW-6 Regional Director Glenda Aligonza and Provincial Public Affairs Office head Jose Maria Amugod, whose office hosts the Migrant Resource Center, also joined the Alacre family at the Bacolod-Silay Airport. | GB
