ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 10 Feb) - Some 300 illegal Filipinos arrested in Malaysia had arrived Saturday in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines after spending several months in jail.
Many of those arrested had illegally crossed Sabah by boat from Tawi-Tawi province to work in construction sites.
Others were duped by illegal recruiters who promised them work in hotels and resorts in Malaysia, but ended up without jobs and money and had been forced to work in palm oil plantations under constant fear of being arrested.
Last week, more than 270 illegal Filipinos were also deported here as Malaysia continued its crackdown on foreigners staying illegally in the oil-rich state, just 4 hours by boat from the Filipino island of Sitangkay off Tawi-Tawi province.
Malaysia began a crackdown on up to 500,000 illegal foreign workers since 2005 conducting searches that extended from construction sites in Kuala Lumpur to oil palm plantations in Sabah. The round-up usually involved police, immigration and volunteer squads.
Many of the deportees were Muslims from the southern Philippines who had lived for years in Sabah.
The Malaysian government had previously given amnesty that allowed illegal immigrants to leave the country with a promise they could return as legal workers once they received proper documents.
The government's tough action has enjoyed popular support in Malaysia, where illegal workers, who had numbered more than a million in a country of 24 million people, have been blamed for crime and other social ills.
Kuala Lumpur said the illegal workers do not pay tax and put a heavy burden on state services, such as education and health care, increasing pressure on an already high budget deficit.
Some Filipino deportees said they were herded into overcrowded detention camps before being expelled and others reported tales of abuses inside Malaysian jails. (Mindanao Examiner)
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