OFW rescued in Turkey out of ICU

MANILA, Philippines — Filipina worker Julieva Benlingan, who was rescued from the rubble 60 hours after the strong quake in Turkey, is now out of the intensive care unit (ICU).

The Filipina worker is now at the hospital’s ward, according to her sister Maribel Liyab.

“Her head was caught in between debris, that’s why she has a wound on her face, as well as her feet, which swelled,” Liyab said in Filipino as she narrated in a radio interview what happened to Benlingan.

“She was able to reach some kind of a kitchen utensil, which she rattled and rattled until she was rescued,” she added.

There were times that Benligan fell unconscious, but she never stopped praying whenever she was awake, according to her sister.

Liyab said she was only able to talk to her sister for a few minutes.

Benlingan is scheduled to return home this year to attend the graduation of her 12-year-old child.

Meanwhile, the family of missing Filipina worker Emily Padriquilaga Bayir yesterday appealed for rescuers to continue looking for her in the rubble.

Bayir’s sister Rose said her brother-in-law told them that rescue operations have yet to reach their place.

“We are appealing to the Philippine embassy in Turkey to still look for my sister because she’s still missing, and to our kababayans who are rescuers, I hope they will notice that there is still a Pinay who has yet to be found,” Rose said mostly in Filipino.

She added that whether dead or alive, they want to see her sister.

“We really have to find them. Poor them if they will just be forgotten,” she said.

Meanwhile, Filipinos in Turkey displaced by the earthquake last week continue to arrive at the shelter of the Philippine embassy in Ankara.

As of last Monday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said there were 64 evacuees at the embassy shelter.

The embassy yesterday said it is focusing the management of its resources toward the welfare, recovery and return to normalcy of Filipino evacuees.

The team is also in contact with volunteers from the hospitality industry who have offered to provide food assistance to Filipino-Turkish families who chose to remain in Antakya and to the Philippine Humanitarian Contingent in Adiyaman Province.

Donation

An additional P10 million in humanitarian aid was donated by the House of Representatives, through the Speaker’s Disaster Relief and Rehabilitation Initiative, for the victims of earthquake in Turkey.

Before this, the lower chamber extended $100,000 also for the Turkey quake victims.

Speaker Martin Romualdez said he is sincerely grateful to Turkey for helping Leyte, and many parts of Eastern Samar, in November 2013, when Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) struck the province.

“The assistance extended by Turkey, the United States and our allies and friends abroad helped ease the pain and suffering of our people,” Romualdez added, underscoring that Turkey was among the first country-responders in the aftermath of Yolanda.

The $100,000 was turned over to Turkey Ambassador to the Philippines Niyazi Evren Akyol last Monday.

On the other hand, the P10 million was handed over to Philippine Red Cross chair Richard Gordon. It came from voluntary donations of lawmakers. – Pia Lee-Brago, Sheila Crisostomo