Ruga was one of two Filipinos killed in a suicide bomb attack last week in Israel.
The President, who joined Ruga’s relatives and friends at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport for the arrival of her remains Friday night aboard a Lufthansa Airlines jet, also turned over a P200,000 check to the slain worker’s brothers Ardel and Elizer Ruga.
The check came from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), a government agency tasked to look after the well-being of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said apart from the immediate financial assistance package, Ruga’s family also stands to get a total of P17,500 in death benefits from OWWA, plus scholarship for one dependent.
The Ruga family was profusely grateful to Mrs. Arroyo, saying she "did not abandon us in our time of grief."
Febe Ruga, an older sister of Rebecca, said the President even regretted not being able to attend the wake at their home in Bansud, Oriental Mindoro.
"Okay lang hindi makarating si Presidente dito sa amin. Hindi naman niya kami pinabayaan (It’s okay if the President could not come to our place. She did not abandon us)," Rebecca’s mother Rosario told The STAR in a telephone interview.
The OWWA has said Ruga went to Israel on a tourist visa, but managed to land a job as a caregiver through the help of Febe, also a caregiver in that country.
However, the Israeli government has assured Manila authorities that they will shoulder all expenses in bringing home the bodies of the two OFWs who were killed last week in a suicide bomb attack on a bus they were riding in Northern Israel.
Bansud Mayor Ferdinand Soller said he will also extend financial support to the Rugas.
Mrs. Arroyo made an unscheduled trip to the flood-stricken town of Minalin, Pampanga last Wednesday to condole with the family of Adelina Cunanan, 43, the second Filipina caregiver killed in the Palestinian suicide attack.
Mrs. Arroyo personally extended her condolences to Cunanan’s parents, 62-year-old Pablo Lagunila, his wife Ynez, 60, and the rest of the Cunanan family. The President also attended a special Mass celebrated for Cunanan at a chapel in Barangay San Francisco in Minalin.
The President embraced Ynez as Pablo, who suffered from a heart attack and was hospitalized after learning of his daughter’s death, watched without saying anything throughout the President’s visit.
Mrs. Arroyo stayed in the chapel for 30 minutes before giving to Cunanan’s parents a P50,000-check drawn from her Social Fund. Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople told the President the other day that since both Cunanan and Ruga were covered by Israel’s Institute of National Insurance, the beneficiaries of both deceased workers will get full insurance benefits from the Israeli government. — Arnell Ozaeta