After 3 years in Kuwait, OFW comes home, surprises family by showing up at beach trip

An overseas Filipino worker in Kuwait came back home to Palawan after three years and surprised her family by showing up during their beach trip.

As seen on Oscar Oida’s “24 Oras” report, Wednesday, Manilyn Cortez suddenly came up to her family’s table with her face covered with shades and a face mask.

Not recognizing Manilyn, her family was taken aback when she started making comments about their food. It went on until one of the children recognized her.

Margarita, Manilyn’s mother, immediately stood up, approached the stranger, and hugged her.

When she took off her daughter’s mask, Margarita couldn’t help but cry tears of joy.

Like her family, Manilyn felt nothing but joy after finally being together with them again.

“Siyempre nando’n yung sabik ng magulang at anak sa isa’t-isa. Sobrang masarap talaga sa pakiramdam,” she said,

[Of course, there’s this excitement between a parent and their child. It really feels good.]

Manilyn works at a hotel front desk in Kuwait. She did not tell her loved ones that she was going home because she wanted to surprise her mother.

“Naka-plano na po talaga na i-sorpresa ko sila mama kasi mag-birthday siya. Ito ’yung pinaka-gift ko sa kanya,” she said.

[I really planned to surprise them because mama’s celebrating her birthday. This is my gift for her.]

Manilyn also revealed that the last time they spoke, she told her family she wasn’t coming home.

“Sabi ko napakamahal ng ticket. Sobrang mahirap talaga mag-travel so na-expect na po nila na hindi po talaga ako makakauwi. Sobrang malungkot po talaga sila that time,” she said.

[I told them the ticket was too expensive. It’s really hard to travel so they expected that I wouldn’t be able to go home. They were very sad that time.]

Like many Filipinos, Manilyn went abroad to give a better life for her family. Her story has resonated with many viewers online that as of writing, it has reached over 5.8 million views on TikTok.

She is set to return to Kuwait in March. Having the chance to spend quality time with her loved ones even just for a short while, Manilyn has this to say to fellow OFWs:

“Lakasan lang natin ang loob natin. Lagi tayong magdasal sa Panginoon. Darating din ang time na makakasama natin ang pamilya natin nang buo,” she said.

“Darating din yung time na ’di na natin kailangan umalis paibang bansa para lang mabuhay ang pamilya.”

[Let’s stay strong. Let us always pray to the Lord. The time will come when we’ll be together with our families again. The time will come when we don’t have to go abroad for our families to live.] – Franchesca Viernes/RC, GMA News