Pinoy evacuees from Sabah pegged at 20,000

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - Filipino refugees from Sabah hit 20,000 as evacuations continue even as the tension between Malaysian forces and members of the Sultan Royal Army had subsided.

Commodore Isabelo Gabor, commander of the Naval Forces Western Mindanao (NFWM), said the fleeing Filipino refugees have been arriving by bancas and motorboats to several islands of Tawi-Tawi province near the border of Sabah.

“Continuous ang arrival galing sa Sabah,” Gabor said citing reports from the Naval Task Force 62 based in Tawi-Tawi.

Gabor assured that all of the evacuees are being assisted by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Bongao town for processing.

The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Commission on Human Rights (CHR) reported that more than 18,400 evacuees have already been processed since the Sabah crisis erupted February when 235 followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, led by his brother Agbimuddin, camped in Lahad Datu to state their claim over the Sabah territory.

The CHR-ARMM has been tasked to monitor and document the complaints of abuses of the evacuees against Malaysian authorities.

Atty. Bong Ballaho, CHR-ARMM regional director, said the number of evacuees based on last June’s monitoring is believed to have already climbed to about 20,000.

“The number of evacuees was only based on the records that landed on the official ports, but there are also small ports where the other evacuees directly landed and were not processed or listed. So the number might have reached already to 20,000 evacuees,” Ballaho said.

Ballaho said the continued evacuation of Filipinos from Sabah could also be the result of the cycle of crackdown by Malaysian authorities since the tension between the followers of Sultan Kiram and Malaysian forces calmed down.

He said Malaysian anti-illegal alien law implemented in 2002 continued and undocumented aliens were given brief period of amnesty to leave or be arrested.

Ballaho said they have received reports of abuse as some of the Malaysian authorities were trying to exact money from the evacuees who opted to stay.

“Pinagkakakitaan na nila ang evacuees,” according to Ballaho.