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By Llanesca T. Panti, Reporter
Vice President Noli de Castro has appealed to
the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak
to defer the mass deportation of undocumented overseas Filipino
workers (OFWs) in Sabah until after Ramadan.
“In the spirit of humanitarian concern, I wish
to appeal to your excellency to stay the implementation of the
large-scale operation until after the holy month of Ramadan,” De
Castro told Razak.
The deferment is needed for the Philippine
government to prepare for the reception and relocation of the
workers.
Earlier, Malaysia announced it would conduct
large-scale operation against undocumented OFWs in Sabah, a move
that affects thousands illegally working there.
However, the Malaysian government assured of an
orderly and humane approach in the detention and deportation of
undocumented workers and had even signed a bilateral agreement with
the Philippine government early last week.
De Castro said the Philippines is ready to
ensure the OFWs safety, including the repatriation of and issuance
of travel documents to 500 Filipinos detained in the temporary
detention center in Menggatal.
Reports have it that Filipino workers are forced
to illegally work in Malaysia due to lack of livelihood
opportunities in their home turf while jobs thrive in Sabah’s palm
(oil) plantations and constructions sites.
The Blas F. Ople Center, a non-government
organization for labor concerns, also reported that the Philippine
Embassy in Kuala Lumpur recently sent home 24 victims of human
trafficking and illegal recruitment. Of the 24 workers, at least 15
became victims of the same human trafficking syndicate that preys on
women from rural areas.
Malaysia’s undocumented workers, in turn, were
blamed for the oil-rich country’s rising crime and other social
problems. Worst, they were accounts that deportees were abused
inside Malaysian jails.
The Gabriela Women’s Partylist (GWP) has also
called on the members of the House of Representatives to look into
the alleged human rights violations committed against OFWs in Sabah
following the Malaysian government’s crackdown on undocumented
immigrants.
“We should not wait for the abuses to reach
epic proportions or for a repeat of the 2002 crackdown on
undocumented Filipinos in Malaysia, where 12 children died and
dozens of women were raped in detention camps, before we make our
move,” GWP’s Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan said.
The Mindanao-based lawmaker added,
“Malaysia’s reputation as among the world’s top 10 worst
places for refugees to stay in was confirmed by the cases of denial
of food and medical care to deportees while in detention camps.
There are also the tales of inhumane treatment of a child who
acquired injuries during his three-month stay in a detention center
and of a woman who gave birth inside a jail.”
The Malaysian government vowed to establish
procedures for the humane and orderly conduct of the arrest,
detention and repatriation of illegal migrants, including
improvement of the facilities for such processes during the Fifth
Meeting of the Philippines-Malaysia Working Group on Migrant Workers
at The Heritage Hotel, Pasay City, Philippines on July 21 to 22.
The Philippines and Malaysia also agreed to
redouble efforts for instituting long-term solutions to the problems
of cross-border travel, work and migration. The agreement included a
proposed bilateral Border Pass Agreement and possible deployment of
Malaysian Immigration Attachés at the One-Stop Processing Center in
Zamboanga.
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