| NEWS
RELEASE - February 2, 2005
References: Connie Bragas-Regalado, Chairperson,
259-1145 & 0927-2157392
Vince Borneo, Information Officer, 0927-7968198
MIGRANTE calls on Macapagal-Arroyo to use all means to stop
the Malaysian crackdown on undocumented Filipinos; push for safe
repatriation
"An extension of the amnesty period is not even a palliative
to the crisis facing the Philippine government on the 500,000 undocumented
Filipinos up for inhumane deportation in Malaysia. It will merely
move the date of the brutal crackdown on undocumented migrants back
by a few days."
Thus declared
the MIGRANTE Sectoral Party on the recent announcements of officials
from the Departments of Labor and Employment and Foreign Affairs
that "Malaysia had extended its amnesty program for undocumented
migrants for another week"
"Philippine
labor and foreign affairs officials in have already admitted that
"it is impossible for the government to handle the situation
if the 500,000 undocumented Filipinos in the Malaysia, - of which
170,000 are in Sabah - are deported and made to return to the Philippines
almost at once. Government should instead initiate all diplomatic
means to prevent human rights violations against undocumented Filipinos
in Malaysia," MIGRANTE Sectoral Party Chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado
said.
Malaysian
authorities were set to crack down on undocumented migrants starting
Tuesday, a day after its January 31 deadline of its amnesty offer
expired. Malaysia has extended the amnesty thrice already. The December
31 deadline was moved following the December 26 earthquake and tsunami
tragedy. The deadline was first extended from Oct 29 in conjunction
with the Indonesian President's inauguration.
"The crackdown will seek out undocumented migrants who will
be subjected to jail time and six cane whips before they are deported.
The Malaysian government has given partial police power to the 560,000-strong
Peoples' Volunteer Corps that will be rewarded 100 ringgits (P15,000)
per undocumented migrant arrested. Besides, no official government
declaration from Malaysia has been transmitted to our shores of
any plan to avert the crackdown," Bragas-Regalado said.
Mahadi Arshad,
director-general of the People's Volunteer Corps was quoted by Agence
France-Presse in Malaysia as "awaiting the green light to launch
the nationwide crackdown."
Migrante
fears a repeat of a similar incident in 2002, when babies of undocumented
Filipinos died in cramped ships that were used to send them home.
Most of
the undocumented Filipinos in Malaysia hail from Basilan, Sulu,
Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga, Lanao, and other far-flung areas that are
among the nation's poorest provinces plagued by war.
"We call on the Malaysian government to stop the crackdown
and respect the human rights of migrants in Sabah and all of Malaysia.
The Macapagal-Arroyo government must take appropriate policy and
practical measures to attend to the upcoming crackdown that will
victimize hundreds of thousands of undocumented Filipinos in the
plantations, construction, entertainment and restaurant industries,"
Bragas-Regalado said. #
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