Filipino deportees queue for food at a government shelter Sunday, July 20, 2008 in the southern Philippine port city of Zamboanga. Malaysia has deported more than 7,000 illegal Filipinos since January this year and the crackdown still continues in the oil-rich state of Sabah, which is also being claimed by the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 20, 2008) – More than 300 illegal Filipinos arrested in Sabah arrived in the southern Philippine port city of Zamboanga as Malaysia continued its crackdown on undocumented workers in the oil-rich state.
The deportees arrived by boat late Saturday afternoon from Sandakan City. They were herded on trucks and brought to a government refugee shelter. The deportees, mostly from Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi provinces, all in the Muslim autonomous region, would be sent back to their home after social workers gather information about them.
Malaysia also deported thousands of illegal Filipino workers since early this year. Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Hajji Aman has repeatedly appealed to Manila to speed up the repatriation of many illegal Filipino workers detained in jails, but so far nothing had been done to bring them back.
Tens of thousands of illegal Filipinos have been arrested in Sabah the past years and many of them had illegally crossed Sabah by boat from Tawi-Tawi to work in construction sites.
Philippine authorities were helpless in putting a stop to the illegal border crossing. Many boat operators in Tawi-Tawi continue to sneak into Sabah, bringing dozens of Filipinos to find work. Worse, some Malaysian policemen in Semporna and Tawau towns intercept Filipino outriggers to collect money to collect bribes from boat operators and passengers in exchange for a passage, said Abdullah.
He said operators of boats called “temper of kumpit” usually charge between P2,000 to P3,000 for each Filipino passenger illegally entering Sabah, many of them were without travel documents, but had relatives also illegally working on the island.
Many Filipinos also crossed Sabah, just 27 nautical miles from Tawi-Tawi’s Sitangkai town, as tourists but never return back only to be arrested later by immigration authorities. “Life is really difficult in Sabah, but it is harder in the Philippines because there is no job for me, for us Muslim. In Sabah, there is always an opportunity to find a job in palm plantations or in constructions sites,” the deportee said.
The deportees arrived by boat late Saturday afternoon from Sandakan City. They were herded on trucks and brought to a government refugee shelter. The deportees, mostly from Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi provinces, all in the Muslim autonomous region, would be sent back to their home after social workers gather information about them.
Malaysia also deported thousands of illegal Filipino workers since early this year. Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Hajji Aman has repeatedly appealed to Manila to speed up the repatriation of many illegal Filipino workers detained in jails, but so far nothing had been done to bring them back.
Tens of thousands of illegal Filipinos have been arrested in Sabah the past years and many of them had illegally crossed Sabah by boat from Tawi-Tawi to work in construction sites.
Philippine authorities were helpless in putting a stop to the illegal border crossing. Many boat operators in Tawi-Tawi continue to sneak into Sabah, bringing dozens of Filipinos to find work. Worse, some Malaysian policemen in Semporna and Tawau towns intercept Filipino outriggers to collect money to collect bribes from boat operators and passengers in exchange for a passage, said Abdullah.
He said operators of boats called “temper of kumpit” usually charge between P2,000 to P3,000 for each Filipino passenger illegally entering Sabah, many of them were without travel documents, but had relatives also illegally working on the island.
Many Filipinos also crossed Sabah, just 27 nautical miles from Tawi-Tawi’s Sitangkai town, as tourists but never return back only to be arrested later by immigration authorities. “Life is really difficult in Sabah, but it is harder in the Philippines because there is no job for me, for us Muslim. In Sabah, there is always an opportunity to find a job in palm plantations or in constructions sites,” the deportee said.
Malaysia began a crackdown on up to 500,000 illegal foreign workers since 2005 and police and immigration authorities and volunteer squads have been conducting searches that extended from construction sites in Kuala Lumpur to oil palm plantations in Sabah.
The Philippines’ Foreign Affairs said as many as 300 illegal Filipinos are being deported from Malaysia every week. Since January this year, more than 7,000 illegal Filipinos had been deported to the Philippines.
Kuala Lumpur 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.Malaysia 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.
Filipino lawmaker Luzviminda Ilagan said many of those deported to Zamboanga City had suffered inhumane treatment in Malaysian jails. She urged Manila to look into the poor condition of Filipinos languishing in jails in Malaysia and to take immediate steps to help them. "There were complaints from the deported Filipinos that they were held in poorly maintained jails, not given enough food, and not provided proper health care,” she said.
Filipino Muslims who were deported said they had been forced to work illegally in Sabah because the Philippine government and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao failed to provide them livelihood opportunities back home.
Many also decried the discrimination in Zamboanga City where Christian employers flatly reject Muslim job seekers for fear they are criminals or had relatives in the Abu Sayyaf and other rebel groups. The discrimination, they said, was heightened after the 9/11 al-Qaeda attacks on the United States. (Mindanao Examiner)
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