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IT’S worrisome that no responsible Filipino public
official has reacted officially to Malaysia’s plan to deport
thousands of undocumented overseas workers, mostly Indonesians and
Filipinos, from Borneo.
On Wednesday, Malaysian Deputy
Prime Minister Najib Razak announced Kuala Lumpur planned to clear
out illegal immigrants who have settled on the Sabah State in the
island of Borneo. Malaysian authorities said there could be from
130,000 to 500,000 undocumented working in timber and plantation
industries.
The foreigners are a drag to the
economy and are a threat to national security because they engage in
crime and drugs, a Malaysian official said.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri
Panglima Musa Haji Aman of the Sabah government confirmed that
Malaysia is committed to a massive operation.
The senior counselor at the
Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has told the newspapers: “It is
a concern when you deport hundreds of thousands of Indonesians back
home.” He added that, “if you deport thousands of illegals, the
local industries will not have workers. The demand for workers will
only fuel the return of the illegals.”
Malaysian foreign minister Rais
Yatim and his visiting Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirayuda met
Thursday to discuss a number of bilateral issues, including migrant
labor.
Why haven’t we heard any
protest or expression of concern from Executive Secretary Eduardo
Ermita, Press Secretary Jesus Dureza or Labor Secretary Marianito
Roque?
Many Cabinet ministers of course
were busy last week keeping President Arroyo company in the United
States. The others, like POEA Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz, have
not grasped the implications of the Malaysian plan, including the
need for a massive evacuation and its impact on a worsening problem,
national unemployment.
In 2002, the Philippine
government scrambled to meet a massive deportation of Filipino
workers, also working and residing on Sabah. Six years ago, Malaysia
threw out thousands of Filipino families, said to be illegals, from
plantations and factories in Borneo.
Manila grappled with a big
headache because Kuala Lumpur threatened the Filipinos with jail if
they did not get out—on their own—within the deadline. Kuala
Lumpur was not spending a ringgit on government ships or planes for
the evacuation. The Philippine Navy or Air Force had to get the
transport to ferry the Filipinos out.
The Navy had to scrounge for
ships while the Air Force had difficulty making its C-47 transport
planes—it has only two in the entire fleet—get off the ground.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) rushed a
tent city of processing centers in Zamboanga City. The labor
department and the foreign office sounded the cavalry charge for
extra troops and for more humanitarian gestures from Malaysia.
A nonprofit, nonpartisan group
has rang the bell to remind the government about a reprise of the
2002 evictions. Calling the Malaysian threat grave and a big blow to
Filipino workers, the think tank Blas F. Ople Policy Center has
called on Malacañang and the Departments of Foreign Affairs, Labor
and Social Development to draw up a master blueprint to address the
impact of a new deportation.
The center warned against likely
violations of human rights and appealed to the Malaysian authorities
to ensure humane treatment of undocumented foreign workers. The
group recalled the case of a young girl—named “Angelica” by
the DWSD—who claimed sexual molestation by Malaysian police, until
it was determined she was of Malaysian descent.
Susan V. Ople, former Labor
undersecretary and Ople Policy Center chairman, has urged the
Department of Foreign Affairs to use diplomacy to stop or moderate
the evacuation. She noted that the current labor attaché corps and
welfare office staff in Kuala Lumpur are undermanned to handle a
massive evacuation.
Equally important, she said, is
putting together a reintegration program to enable the returning
Filipinos to get remunerative jobs or to launch small businesses on
their return to the country.
President Gloria Arroyo should
order her labor and foreign offices to address this critical issue
on her return to Manila. Warnings about a mass deportation began in
December 2007, growing louder last week. The alarm from the Blas F.
Ople Policy Center needs a quick response lest Malacañang trips
over another huge emergency it should be prepared for.
The Filipinos in Sabah
THE Filipinos in Sabah are not a
threat to the island economy but have added to its prosperity.
Thousands have worked in
its labor-starved oil-palm plantations, timber industry, factories
and construction programs. The businessmen have enriched trade
through entrepreneurship and investment.
Thousands of Filipinos have
traveled and worked freely on the island because of its paper-thin
borders. Thousands of Indonesians and a modest Malaysian community
have also thrived in southern Mindanao.
The immigrants include asylum
seekers and refugees from war-torn regions in Sulu and the main
island. Many have intermarried with Malaysians and Indonesians.
Considered stateless, they have survived without legal documents.
There should be a way to grant
the Filipinos amnesty or to give them work status and legal
residence. Malaysia cannot erase their personal and collective
contributions (and those of the Indonesians) to its society
overnight without being accused of selective amnesia. 
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