Tuesday, April 11, 2006
326 illegal Pinoys in Sabah deported to Zambo
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- At least 326 Filipinos detained in Sabah, Malaysia were deported back to the Philippines, as Kuala Lumpur stepped up its crackdown on illegal immigrants, officials said Monday.
The deportees, among them 67 children, arrived on Saturday in Zamboanga City onboard the Filipino ferry Danica Joy-2 after serving time in jails for various immigration offenses, a local social welfare specialist Elizabeth Dy said.
"They were deported because of various immigration offenses in Sabah," Dy said.
Most of those deported were natives of Jolo and Tawi-Tawi islands in the Sulu archipelago in the southern Philippines, and Basilan island, about 8 miles south of Zamboanga City.
The deportees were sent to a social welfare center here and given foods and free tickets to return to their hometowns, despite meager funding from the government. Many of them also underwent a series of counseling and briefing on the latest government job programs and skills training.
At least 20 deportees from Basilan island were already sent home on Sunday. "We will be sending home the rest of the deportees and we hope they don't return anymore to Sabah, not without proper documents," she said.
Many of those who were expelled from Sabah served time in prison from two weeks to one year or longer.
But unlike in the past, where Filipino deportees bring home tales of harsh punishments and physical abuses in Malaysian prisons, now those who returned said they were treated well and given ample ration of food while in jail, Dy said.
"We did not have any single complaint from the deportees, and we asked them about whether they were abused, and they told us that they were treated well and fed, too. That's good considering the good relations between the Philippines and Malaysia. We are also happy about this development," she said.
Agapita Bendoy, head of the social welfare center, said previously that more than 30,000 illegal Filipino workers were deported from Malaysia the past five years -- the biggest was in 2002 when some 10,000 Filipinos had been arrested and jailed and deported to Zamboanga City after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo interceded for their release.
"The President really worked hard for the welfare of the Filipinos working in Malaysia. Now, we average 6,000 to 4,000 deportees a year and we hope to cut this figure in the future," Bendoy said.
She appealed to illegal Filipino immigrants to come home and apply for passport in Zamboanga City, so they can return and work legally in Malaysia.
Since January, Malaysia deported a total of 1,823 illegal Filipinos from Sabah. The largest was in March, when 845 deportees arrived by boat in Zamboanga City, said Dy. "In January, we received 441 deportees, then 537 in February, and usually there are deportees arriving every week, and this goes on," she said.
And many Filipinos searching for jobs or promise of better pay continue to illegally cross the border through the southern backdoor, despite an aggressive government campaign to stop the influx of illegal workers to Sabah. Many pose as tourists and once in Malaysia, they go into hiding until they find a work or worst they end up engaging in criminal or illegal activities to be able to survive or send money to their families back home.
Illegal Filipinos pay as much as P2,000 ($35) each to private boat operators in Bongao or Sitangkai island off Tawi-Tawi to bring them across Sabah, just several nautical miles from the Filipino border.
Last year, two Filipino women, who were victims of illegal recruitment in the southern Philippines, escaped from a nightclub in Sabah, after their employer allegedly forced them into prostitution.
The women, Vernaliza Gabor, 25, and Jennifer Ortiz, 28, were among the more than 200 Filipino workers who were expelled after they failed to show their immigration papers.
Gabor said she was allegedly hired by Filipino recruiter Madelyn Amado to work as a waitress in a restaurant in Sabah's Sandakan district, but ended up as a hostess on the nightclub called VIP.
The women, both natives of Butuan City in the southern province of Agusan del Norte, were lured to Sabah after being promised a monthly salary of more than P38,000.
Ortiz escaped three days ahead of Gabor after she sought help from a Malaysian customer, who then spirited her out of the club and brought her to the police. She said eight other Filipino women, mostly from the central Philippine province of Cebu, were also forced into prostitution in Sandakan and wanted to return home, but were afraid to escape from their employers.
Ortiz and Gabor said their families were unaware of their ordeal, but told their stories to warn other Filipino women not to fall prey to illegal recruitment.
Malaysia began a crackdown on up to 500,000 illegal foreign workers since conducting searches last year that extended from construction sites in Kuala Lumpur to oil palm plantations in Sabah.
The round-up, which involved police, immigration and volunteer squads, came after the expiry of a four-month 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.
The crackdown on illegal immigrants is Malaysia's biggest since 2002, when there were reports of abuses as those caught were herded into overcrowded detention camps before being expelled. (Sun.Star Zamboanga/Sunnex)
(April 11, 2006 issue)
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