Malacañang announced on Saturday that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. personally met with overseas Filipino workers Jimmy Pacheco and Camille Jesalva earlier this week after surviving attacks by Palestinian group Hamas in Israel.

Both caretakers, Pacheco and Jesalva, have safely returned to the Philippines. The former came last December 18 after being kidnapped by extremists for 40 days.

"At least you're now home. Also, Merry Christmas. That was truly a heavy experience. I urge you to write down or take a video [narrating your experience]," Marcos told the two Filipinos.

"We should do it… everyone who were repatriated. They should recount their story so that everybody would know what they went through. The Israelis, they love us," Marcos added.

Pacheco recounted the event, including how Hamas broke into their kibbutz and shot and killed his Israeli ward.

He informed Marcos that under intense shelling, the group transferred their hostages into tunnels in order to avoid Israeli troops.

Pacheco said that he survived on small amounts of water and dates during his more than month-long captivity in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Jesalva, a 31-year-old caregiver from Nueva Ecija, refused to leave her 95-year-old employer, Nitza Hefetz, during the Hamas attack, and as a result, she became a hero in Israel.