COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Another batch of 137 undocumented Filipinos from Sabah arrived in Tawi-Tawi Thursday night, barely two days after 122 others set foot in the province after Malaysian authorities forced them out of the oil-rich island state.
The 137 deportees, among them pre-school children, were ferried from Sabah by a small vessel, the Mideast Express II, reportedly chartered by the Malaysian government.
Laisa Alamia, executive secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said the region’s Humanitarian Emergency Action and Relief Team and Tawi-Tawi Gov. Nurbert Sahali are now attending to the needs of the latest batch of Filipino deportees.
Alamia said they are expecting more undocumented Filipinos to arrive soon from Sabah with Malaysia’s renewed crackdown on illegal aliens on the island and other areas within its territory.