72 Pinoy deportees arrive in Tawi-Tawi from Malaysia

Dozens of Filipino deportees from all over Malaysia arrived in Tawi-Tawi province in Mindanao, earlier this week.

The 72 deportees arrived in Bongao town last Tuesday after they were arrested and jailed in Malaysia for being undocumented.

Malaysia has launched a crackdown on undocumented foreigners last January.

Some of the deportees brought home tales of abuse. Others claimed they were not given sufficient food, while some said they were locked up in filthy cells.
 
Among the deportees were children.

Many of the deportees temporarily stayed at the Bongao Port while being assisted by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
 
On Thursday, through the help of the DSWD, the deportees were sent back to their respective provinces.

Malaysia is home to thousands of Filipinos, many of them undocumented and reside in Malaysian-controlled Sabah, a resource-rich territory also being claimed by the Philippines.  

Every year, hundreds of Filipinos enter Sabah through Mindanao in search of a better life. Most of the undocumented Filipinos in Sabah hail from Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and other far-flung provinces in the south that are among the Philippines’ poorest and constantly plagued by war. — KBK, GMA News