Aglipay named to oversee PNP Task Force Deportees

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. ordered Deputy Director General Edgar Aglipay yesterday to supervise a newly created police task force to assist Filipino deportees from Malaysia.

Aglipay will supervise "Task Force Deportees," which aims to integrate all police actions to assist Filipinos who were deported from Malaysia for violating immigration laws, according to PNP spokesman Senior Superin-tendent Leopoldo Bataoil.

This developed as presidential adviser on special concerns Norberto Gonzales returned from Kuala Lumpur after personally delivering a letter from President Arroyo to Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Aglipay is expected to supervise the operations of Task Group Zamboanga, under Zamboanga City police director Superintendent Mario Yanga, and Task Group Tawi-Tawi, under Tawi-Tawi police chief Senior Superintendent Salipada Linog.

The two task groups will directly be under Central Mindanao police director Chief Superintendent Simeon Dizon.

Aside from ensuring security in the deportee centers in Zamboanga City and Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, Task Force Deportees is also expected to coordinate with other government agencies involved in addressing the sudden influx of Filipinos from Sabah, Malaysia.

As of yesterday, the two regional police mobile groups from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and Western Mindanao to ensure security in the two regions which have experienced an influx of deportees.

The PNP is also conducting parallel security efforts to prevent Abu Sayyaf bandits and other threat groups to exploit the influx of deportees.

Aglipay, former chief of the National Capital Region Police Office, is expected to be named deputy director for operations vice Deputy Director Edgar Galvante, who is slated to retire this month.

GMA protests rape of Pinay

Meanwhile, in her letter to Mahathir, President Arroyo expressed outrage over the alleged sexual abuse of a teenaged Filipino girl in a detention center in Sabah.

"I express my personal outrage and that of the Filipino people and which I am sure you will also condemn in the strongest terms," the President wrote Mahathir, the foreign office said in a statement.

Foreign Secretary Blas Ople handed the letter to Malaysian Ambassador Taufik Noor at the DFA yesterday.

At the same time, the Department of Labor and Employment expressed fear for the lives of an estimated 80,000 illegal Filipino migrants who are believed to be still in hiding in Malaysia.

Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said the government is now trying to locate the remaining illegal Filipino migrants and working out plans to prevent the imposition of stiff penalties against them.

"There are still many who are hiding in Malaysia and we are fearing for those who will be arrested out of the amnesty period because they will be penalized severely," Sto. Tomas said.

Sto. Tomas disclosed that some members of a government mission to Malaysia are already determining the condition of Filipinos who are still hiding in Malaysia.

According to Sto. Tomas, most of those who were deported consist of undocumented workers but most of the workers themselves were not arrested since they were at work when the crackdown was launched.

She also pointed out that of the estimated 100,000 undocumented workers in Malaysia, only 20,000 have availed of Malaysia’s amnesty program.

She noted that workers and employers who will be arrested face mandatory whipping, fined heavily and jailed for not more than five years.