Philippine envoy called home

The Philippine ambassador to Tel Aviv who compared local immigration officials to the Nazi secret police is set to return home for "regular consultations," the Philippine foreign affairs department said Tuesday.

Ambassador Antonio Modena will return to Manila for "routine home office consultations," which will include the status of Filipino workers in Israel, department spokesman Albert Asuque said.

He stressed that Modena wasn't being recalled and would return to his post in Israel, adding his trip was approved before the controversy over his remarks.

'Israel should apologize'

Modena apologized on Monday to Israeli Foreign Ministry officials for a newspaper interview last week in which he compared police tactics in Israel during arrest sweeps of illegal workers, including Filipinos, to those of the Gestapo.

The Foreign Ministry said it accepted the apology and considered the matter closed.

Meanwhile, a pressure group for Filipino overseas workers, Migrante, called for the Israeli government to apologize for the treatment of Filipino workers.

"From segregating Filipino travelers at the back of aircraft on flights to Tel Aviv, the confiscation of cell

phones and night raids of overseas Filipino workers' homes, the Israeli government ... Should be the one to issue an apology, not Ambassador Modena," Migrante chairman Connie Bragas-Regalado said.

An estimated 300,000 foreign workers live in Israel, many without valid work permits. They include about 30,000 Filipinos, most of whom work as maids and caregivers. Amid high unemployment, police have been cracking down on illegal workers.