‘She’s happy now in arms of husband in heaven’

BANSUD, Oriental Mindoro — "They’re now together in heaven."

This is what relatives say of Rebecca Ruga, 39, one of two Filipina caregivers who died in a suicide bomb attack in Israel last Sunday, and whose husband Pepito died seven months earlier.

"I hope she’s happy now in the arms of her husband," narrates Erlinda Gernace, Rebecca’s older sister, to The STAR in their house in Barangay Sumagui here.

Rebecca and common-law husband Pepito lived together for 18 years, but did not have a chance to get married because of financial difficulties. They were also not blessed with child.

"Pepito was sick, that’s why they never had a child," Erlinda said in Filipino. Pepito was 68 last January when he died of diabetes complications.

Rebecca was working as a cashier in a restaurant in Baclaran, Parañaque City when she met Pepito. They lived together in an apartment, struggling to make both ends meet with their meager earnings.

"She’s a loving wife to her husband, but she never neglected her parents, brothers, sisters and even her pamangkins (nephews and nieces)," said Erlinda.

"She is very helpful especially to her siblings," she said of Rebecca, the fourth of eight children.

"Her dream is to have our dilapidated house fixed and give her brothers and sisters capital to start their own business," the overseas Filipina worker’s widowed mother, Rosario Ruga, says in between sobs.

"Why did it have to happen now, when many are depending on her," the 68-year-old Ruga added, her voice cracking at times.

Breaking the news

Febe Mampuste, also a caregiver in Israel, is Rebecca’s older sister who helped her find a job there. Febe has worked in Israel for three years, and has a son though she is separated from her husband.

It was Febe who broke the sad news of Rebecca’s passing to their relatives in the Philippines. But she did it all too gently, buying time before finally informing their mother.

Febe is based in Jerusalem while Rebecca was in Haifa when she was killed in the bus after the suicide bomb attack.

When Febe heard the news of the bombing, she called up family in the Philippines to tell them about the incident in Haifa but assured them they were alright. She still had no idea that her sister was one of the victims in the suicide attack.

But after talking to her mother, Febe received a call from friends in Haifa that Rebecca was one of the victims in the attack.

Febe decided to call home again, this time to her sister Marilou who lives just a few houses away from their mother. She told her that Rebecca was in a hospital in Haifa suffering from cuts and bruises.

But Marilou was puzzled because Febe was sobbing over the phone, Erlinda remarked. It was past 3 in the morning when Febe called her mother again to tell the truth of Rebecca’s death.

Premonitions

"We had no premonitions of her death," Erlinda said. "But we noticed that she became sort of lackluster whenever she called in recent weeks."

While Febe and Rebecca seldom wrote letters to their family in the Philippines, they spent a lot of time on the phone on long-distance calls, exchanging stories and laughter.

"She used to be very happy when talking over the phone, always laughing, but these last calls she seemed sad," Erlinda said.

She also narrated how the birthday of Rebecca’s husband Pepito was last July, and she had sent money from Israel for a prayer mass offering. Erlinda said Rebecca often dreamt about Pepito, also known as Tony.

"Maybe Rebecca was depressed because her husband died while she was on her sixth month in Israel, that’s why she was unable to come home," Erlinda said. "Then his birthday was last July and she hadn’t even seen him before he was buried."

Rebecca’s mother Rosario shared an eerie story: Last Monday evening, she received what was apparently a phone call from her daughter, a day after the caregiver’s death.

"She called maybe to say goodbye," Rosario said of the call that came past midnight, the dead woman’s voice coming as if from a deep well, fading away. "It was like Rebecca’s voice."

Hard-up

Rebecca and Febe chose to become OFWs to ease their family’s financial problems. They used to have a sari-sari store in front of their 15 x 30 meter house until it went bankrupt a few years ago.

The store being the Rugas’ only source of income, there was no option for them but to apply for a loan in a bank using their house and lot as collateral. They were able to loan P350,000 and used it as capital to start another sari-sari store.

But lightning struck twice –the store folded up, and their house and lot was foreclosed by the bank for failure to pay their loan.

"We just live here in the house on the goodwill of the bank, which has threatened to evict us if we don’t pay up," Erlinda added. "That’s why Rebecca went to Israel to help Febe in the payments of the loan."

Erlinda also said that Febe’s 4-year-old son is suffering from congenital heart disease that needs to be operated on as soon as possible.

"They’re asking for P500,000 for the child’s operation, but where are we going to get that amount?" she said. Rebecca had promised to help provide for her nephew’s operation expenses before she left for Israel.