30,000 Pinoys in S. Korea to be deported

MANILA, Philippines – Migrante International recently asked President Arroyo to take drastic measures to ensure the safe return of 30,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who are expected to be deported as South Korea steps up its campaign against undocumented migrant workers.

In a statement, Migrante International chair Connie Bragas-Regalado said that Migrante members in South Korea informed them that South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak’s marching orders are to flush “unregistered aliens” out its borders.

“Thousands of OFWs are expected to be arrested, detained, prosecuted and deported from different countries as massive crackdown of undocumented workers will intensify in EU (European Union) countries, South Korea and Malaysia. We have received reports from our members in South Korea that after President Lee Myung-Bak’s marching orders to flush out unregistered aliens in their country last February, immigration authorities there were given quotas of 3,000 arrests and deportations monthly – 600 for Seoul and 250 for Busan,” Regalado said.

Regalado said the more than 30,000 undocumented Filipinos are among the 653,000 foreign workers in South Korea.

The European Union earlier approved new immigration rules which will oblige authorities to expel undocumented migrants, impose imprisonment of 18 months and ban entry for five years.

Regalado said Europe is host to more than 100,000 undocumented OFWs.

She said that in Malaysia, half a million undocumented Filipinos of the 1.3-million undocumented foreign workers will face possible arrest, detention and deportation.

In 2005, Regalado said the Malaysian government set up a 560,000-strong People Volunteer Corps, also called Relas, to go after undocumented foreign workers.

“The Relas have not been trained in human arrest procedures, respect for human rights and international humanitarian law. Hence the crackdown is highly open to abuse of authority and due process will not be observed,” Regalado said.

Regalado said the impending massive deportation of OFWs in South Korea would also be a “disaster in the making.”

“The Arroyo government must act with dispatch on the matter by intervening diplomatically on behalf of the OFWs,” Regalado said.

She likewise condemned Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for migrant workers affairs Esteban Conejos’ statement that the Malaysian government has every right to deport undocumented Filipinos.

“This is proof that the government has no plans at all in helping the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos in Malaysia, and those in the same predicament in other countries, who stand to face brutal and inhumane deportation,” Regalado said.