News
Release - March 3, 2005
References: Connie Bragas-Regalado, Chairperson, 259-1145
& 0927-2157392
Vince Borneo, Information Officer, 0927-7968198
Ongoing Malaysian crackdown
Undocumented Filipinos will get jailed, fined and whipped in Malaysia
when caught; Malacanang is deceiving public on "humane deportation"
Migrante Sectoral Party Chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado today
criticized Malacanang for "trying to project that the ongoing
Malaysian crackdown on 500,000 undocumented Filipino migrants is
humane and no Filipino will be harmed."
"There is nothing humane in a crackdown on migrants if this
happens in any country. Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, through her
spokesman Ignacio Bunye, is peddling lies on the ongoing crackdown
in Malaysia that targets an estimated 1.6 million undocumented migrant
workers who face arrest, torture by caning and deportation,"
Bragas-Regalado said.
According to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi "the Malaysian
government will crack down hard on million undocumented migrants,"
who come mostly from Indonesia and the Philippines. Others are from
Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, East Timor and Sri Lanka.
"The Philippine government is harping on "re-employment
of deportees in Sabah" and other non-essential moves that will
never protect our undocumented compatriots in the whole of Malaysia.
We have gathered reports from officials of non-government organizations
Tenaganita (Women's Force) in Malaysia and the Asia Pacific Mission
for Migrants (APMM) in Hong Kong that the Philippine government
is trying its best to keep from the public:
1. All the jails and penitentiaries are filled to the brim even
before the crackdown that started on March 1. The Malaysian government
is seeking out vacant houses and buildings to place undocumented
workers it has seized from factories, plantations, restaurants,
clubs and construction sites;
2. The 560,000-strong People's Volunteer Corps (also called Relas)
who are tasked to implement the crackdown will be given 80 ringgits
daily honorarium and will be rewarded 100 ringgits (P1,430) per
undocumented migrant arrested;
3. The Relas have not
been trained in humane 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;
4. Those Filipinos who
are undocumented will be subjected to arrest, a minimum 14-day detention,
caning and deportation. Those who entered as documented workers
but have overstayed will not be caned. But there are no procedures
on how to distinguish between undocumented workers and overstayers
and those who ran away from abusive employers;
5. At least 800 Filipina
domestic workers were documented by Tenaganita of having cases of
unpaid wages. Their visas were not renewed and most have gone undocumented;
and
6. Those who opt for
legalization of their status must pay up to 3,000 ringgits (P42,900)
to the Malaysian government.
"How can Malacanang
say that the conditions of undocumented migrants -- who are clinging
to jobs in the construction, plantation and service industries in
the face of unemployment in the country - is not a worrisome situation?"
Bragas-Regalado asked.
Most of the undocumented
Filipinos in Malaysia hail from Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga
del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, and
other poor provinces of the Philippines.
MIGRANTE, along with Tenaganita and other human rights groups are
calling on the Malaysian government to stop the crackdown and respect
the human rights of undocumented migrants of Malaysia.
"MIGRANTE also calls
on Malacanang to provide the truthful picture of what the 500,000
undocumented Filipinos face in Malaysia and not confine the issue
to those in Sabah alone," Bragas-Regalado ended. #
|
