Arroyo urged to help 600,000 Pinoys in EU, Malaysia

MANILA, Philippines - In the wake of a crackdown on illegal immigrants, an advocacy group for overseas Filipino workers urged the Philippine government to look after the welfare of about 600,000 undocumented OFWs in Europe and Malaysia.

Migrante International called on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to help OFWs through diplomatic means.

“The impending deportations are, without a shred of doubt, inhumane. It would be criminal for the Arroyo regime to ignore this urgent matter," said Connie Bragas-Regalado, chairperson of Migrante International.

Early this month, 27 European Union interior ministers voted to detain overstaying migrants for a maximum of 18 months. Along with their children, these migrants will be forcefully expelled and blacklisted for five years in Europe.

According to Migrante, about 100,000 Filipino workers in Europe will be affected by the new policy.

In Malaysia, the government had also announced its plan to chase thousands of illegal immigrants. Many of the undocumented immigrants in eastern Sabah state on Borneo Island are Filipinos and Indonesians.

Based on Migrante's estimate, there are about half a million Filipinos on Borneo Island.

“We are urging the Arroyo government to create a task force or a crisis management team that is dedicated to ensuring that Filipino citizens’ rights will NOT be violated in the course of Europe’s and Malaysia’s brutal crackdown and deportation of undocumented workers," Regalado said.

Amnesty International (AI), a human rights group, earlier warned the Malaysian government against driving Filipinos out of Sabah.

The group said the immigrants in Malaysia included a large number of asylum seekers and refugees who had fled from the conflict-ridden Mindanao region in southern Philippines.

According to AI, many of the immigrants, including children, are stateless people who have lived in Sabah for more than a decade.

"We fear that the simplistic and arbitrary action of mass crackdown by the federal government in addressing such a serious and complex issue will elevate the ongoing human rights and humanitarian concerns in Sabah and the region to a serious crisis level," the group said.

In its last crackdown in 2005, the Malaysian government deported from Sabah 300,000 illegal immigrants who were mostly Indonesians.

Meanwhile, Migrante's Regalado saw the upcoming Global Forum on Migration and Development in October as an opportunity for the Philippine government to address the plight of undocumented OFWs.

“The best thing the Arroyo administration can do for the thousands of Filipinos who face deportation abroad is to push for the regularization of all undocumented Filipino workers," said Regalado. - Mark Joseph Ubalde, GMANews.TV

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