400 Pinoys sent home from Sabah in first wave of Malaysia deportation

Some 400 illegally staying Filipinos have been deported from Sabah in the first wave of the Malaysian government's mass repatriation initiative against illegal immigrants,  a report on Straits Times said Thursday.
Filipinos aged between one to 60 detained at the temporary detention center in Sandakan left Sabah aboard the Lady Mary Joy 3 ferry for Zamboanga on Tuesday morning, the report said.
A report on Malay Mail Online said Malaysian government intended to begin the deportation process of some 7,000 illegal Filipino immigrants more than a month ago.
Proceedings, however, were delayed after MV Danica Joy 2, the ferry meant to take back the immigrants, sank at the Zamboanga port on September 22.
State Security Council director Datuk Rodzi Saad said this showed the Malaysian government's commitment to address the illegal immigration issues Sabah has faced for more than three decades.
“This effort is a sign of the government’s commitment to tackle the issue of illegal immigrants in this state,” he said in a statement Wednesday.
Filipino immigrants still in detention centers will be sent back in stages as part of a deal between President Rodrigo Duterte and Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak during the former's two-day visit in Malaysia.
Duterte said he wants education and healthcare services to be arranged for the undocumented Filipinos with assistance from a "neutral agency" such as the World Health Organization.
"Kawawa yung mga Tausug doon, but they are Filipinos, and they should be attended to," Duterte had said. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News

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