COTABATO CITY, Philippines – More than a hundred more deportees from Sabah arrived last Tuesday night in the capital of Tawi-Tawi amid the intensified crackdown by Malaysia on undocumented aliens in the oil-rich island state.
The Humanitarian Emergency Action and Relief Team (HEART) of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the office of Tawi-Tawi Gov. Nurbert Sahali are now facilitating the return of the deportees to their respective provinces, according to ARMM Executive Secretary Laisa Alamia.
Of the 122 deportees, 44 are from different island towns in Tawi-Tawi, 18 are from Basilan, 37 are ethnic Tausogs from Sulu, while eight others are from Zamboanga City.
“The rest are from provinces outside of the ARMM,†said the region’s social welfare secretary, Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman.
The deportees are now temporarily housed in relief sites in Bongao, capital town of Tawi-Tawi.
Lucman, the ARMM’s incumbent vice governor, however, said Malaysia’s intensified campaign against undocumented aliens does not selectively target Filipinos.
Other nationals staying illegally in Malaysia have also been deported, he said.
While in Bongao on Wednesday, ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, who oversees the operation of the HEART, released an initial P200,000 cash assistance for the deportees’ food and transport fare to their respective provinces.
Hataman said the ARMM’s social welfare department will help Sahali’s office attend to the needs of the deportees while they are undergoing documentation prior to their return to their places of origin.
Hataman said the new batch of deportees is composed of 116 adults and six children.