Manila meets KL on Sabah deportation plan
Philippine officials have met with their Malaysian counterparts over the planned mass deportation of thousands of Filipinos.
Philippine diplomats sought to ensure that any deportation was orderly and respected human rights but also requested that permanent residency status be granted to some Filipinos who have lived in Malaysia for a long time, said undersecretary for migrant affairs Esteban Conejos.
Philippine officials have met with their Malaysian counterparts over the planned mass deportation of thousands of Filipinos.
Philippine diplomats sought to ensure that any deportation was orderly and respected human rights but also requested that permanent residency status be granted to some Filipinos who have lived in Malaysia for a long time, said undersecretary for migrant affairs Esteban Conejos.
"Our government has met with Malaysian officials to be prepared for when this thing (deportation) happens," he said.
"I told my counterparts in Malaysia ... the Philippines is prepared to cooperate with them in this issue," he said.
Conejos estimated that there were some 200,000 Filipinos in Malaysia, the majority working in plantations, construction and trade in resource-rich Sabah state on Borneo island.
He said an average of 10,000 were deported each year from Sabah to the nearby southern Philippines but this was expected to go up sharply with the new Malaysian plan to deport tens of thousands of illegal migrants from Sabah.
Conejos said many of them had lived in Sabah for a long time.
"Some of them have been there for so long that they no longer have relatives in the Philippines and don't know how to speak Filipino dialects," he said.
"They don't understand why they need a Philippine passport or a visa to be in Sabah."
Grant PR status to long-term stayers
He said one way out of the problem would be for the Malaysian government to grant permanent residency to long-term stayers.
A Philippine claim for sovereignty over Sabah has laid dormant for decades in the international courts.
Historically thousands of people have moved freely between the southern Philippine islands and Sabah daily. Many Filipinos have families in Sabah and have made their homes there.
In June, Malaysia announced a campaign to drive out migrants, mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia, who have settled in Sabah.
Politicians in Sabah pushed the national government to expel the illegals, saying they were a burden on the economy and pose a security threat by engaging in crime and the drugs trade.
