‘If I go home, we don’t have enough money’: the low-paid Filipino workers caught up in the war on Iran

An overseas Filipino worker sleeps as she waits for updates on her cancelled flight to the Middle East at Manila's International Airport Photograph: Aaron Favila/AP

Sirens warning of Iranian missiles blare out so frequently that Joycee Pelayo, a Filipino living near to Tel Aviv, doesn’t leave the house any more. Each time an alert sounds, she rushes to help the older man she cares for, supporting him into a wheelchair, then down the steps into a nearby shelter.

“Last night, there were three alerts. We received it at about 2am, in the middle of the night, and then 3am, and then 4am,” says Pelayo.