Thursday, July 8, 2010

Repatriation of Filipinos from Sabah


Illegal Filipinos seeking a good living in Sabah, Malaysia, are endlessly rounded up by authorities for illegal stay and violation of immigration laws. In just a span of weeks, 70 people including children were hardheartedly repatriated to the Philippines, after serving two or three months jail terms or detention in penampungan (detention quarters) in Tawau, Sandakan and Kota Kinabalu.

Just yesterday morning, a second group of 30 halaws (repatriates), who were empty-handed, broke and busted arrived Bongao from Zamboanga city and proceeded directly to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) receiving center for assistance.

According to Ms. Sonia Colinares, DSWD officer-in-charge, most of the halaws were from the second district of Tawi-Tawi, who, after being interviewed by DSWD staff and given food assistance were sent off to their home place.

It was learnt from the repatriates that Sabah authorities were continuously conducting operation to arrest undocumented foreigners to rid Sabah of illegal immigrants. Accordingly, police and immigration authorities not only rounded Filipinos in the streets but even checked houses, worksites, kem (estates), and areas known to be lairs of undocumented immigrants.

The arrest was not only confined to Filipinos said Almurid Ajan, a 16-year old halaw rounded at Kota Kinabalu, who served a two-month detention, but also included other nationals like Indonesians and Pakistanis.

Meanwhile, the manpower shortage in the business and labor industries in Sabah, has prompted its government to allow its Immigration Bureau to issue IM Tiga Belas (IM 13), a work pass issued to illegal workers under the sponsorship of employers and companies hiring the services of foreign workers.

This special work permit is levied RM2,000.00 a year from the employers to guarantee their sponsored workers for a year work, an option that legalizes the stay of illegal immigrants. Yet, most Filipinos remained undocumented and preferred to be hunted like wild animals caged for two or three months in penampungan, before they would be shipped home broke and empty-handed.

But indigent Filipinos who have found Sabah a paradise, in spite of the odds of getting legal stay, and most often than not, play hide and seek with Sabah authorities keep coming back to the country they believed offering the chance for decent living.

And no matter how difficult it is for them going back door, of which the possibility of being intercepted by naval authorities and put to jail even before earning, they (Filipinos) keep going against all odds.

The reason is poverty in one’s own country. Unless the government does something tangible to offer, such as jobs or income generating livelihood programs for this level of Filipinos, they keep going back at the expense of risk and trauma.

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