INQUIRER.net, 11/13/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Following reports of human rights violations during the deportation of Filipinos, especially women and children, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Thursday said it will send a composite team to Malaysia to validate the alleged abuses of immigration authorities there.
"We have received complaints of this nature from the deportees themselves from our regional office in Zamboanga. And as an independent constitutional office mandated to protect, promote, and fulfill the human rights of every Filipino, whether residing here or abroad as a result of their work thereat, we are duty-bound to look after their welfare and well-being as well," CHR chairperson Leila De Lima said in a statement e-mailed to media outfits.
De Lima said the CHR Special Mission Team will be headed by Commissioner Norberto Dela Cruz, who was a public prosecutor before his current post. The other members of the team include Jose Manuel Mamauag, regional director at the CHR Western Mindanao office, as well as lawyers and investigators.
The CHR chair said the team will gather firsthand information, not just on alleged beatings and maltreatment, but the overall condition of Filipinos under detention in Sabah and Sandakan in Malaysia.
She said the team's investigation will be fully coordinated with the commission's Malaysian counterpart.
Government statistics show that as of December 2007, there are 239,373 Filipinos in Malaysia, more than half (125,000) of them listed as irregular residents, more than a third (88,372) as temporary residents, and more than a tenth (26,001) as permanent residents.
But other government officials who have dealt with the problem have given larger estimates of the irregular Filipinos in Malaysia, from a low of 200,000 to a high of half a million.
De Lima stressed that, while many of the irregular Filipinos in Malaysia are victims of illegal recruitment and trafficking, "Malaysian deportation authorities, or any host country for that matter, cannot abuse or maltreat migrants."
"They should be respected as any individual should be -- they should be given equal dignity as any other citizen of the world," she said.
A few years back, during a crackdown on illegal migrants, thousands of Filipinos were sent back to the country in crowded ships, causing many babies to get sick and die after spending time in crowded jails, where some Filipino women were also reportedly raped by Malaysian guards.
Just this June, the Philippines and Malaysia agreed to a humane deportation process for and the regularization of irregular Filipinos there.
Many of the Filipinos working in Sandakan and Sabah are Muslims who escaped the armed conflict in Mindanao.
The Philippines also has a claim on Sabah.
