Manila calls for better treatment of deportees from Sabah

MANILA: Philippine officials on Monday said that the government is trying to secure a commitment from Malaysia on the orderly manner of arrest, detention and deportation of the Filipinos from Sabah, without violating their human rights.

Manila has repeatedly appealed to the Malaysian government to go easy on the undocumented Filipino workers, who allegedly seek illegal working in resources-rich Sabah.

Quoting Esteban Conejos, undersecretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs, China’s Xinhua news agency reported Monday that the Philippine and Malaysian governments should address the issue through negotiations and work to ensure the welfare and protection, as well as the orderly repatriation of undocumented Filipino workers.

The Philippines said there are about 200,000 Filipinos residing and working in Sabah but local Malaysian officials put the figure as high as 500,000.

Most of the Filipino workers in Sabah are from the impoverished and insurgency-riddled provinces in southern Philippines. They went as tourists but never return until being detained by immigration authorities.

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, the Manila Times newspaper reported, citing government figures.

Conejos said while the Philippines indicated willingness to cooperate on the issue, he reminded Malaysian officials that “the basic human rights of deportees should be respected.”

“It means that while they have those rights, the procedures that they have to adopt on deportation must comply with the law and the basic fundamental rights and freedoms and safeguards of every natural person enjoys must be respected,” he said.

Conejos also said a team from the Department of Social Welfare and Development is on standby in the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga to accommodate the influx of deportees from Sabah.