Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo on Monday assured the public that her office will exert all efforts to help settle Filipino migrant workers returning to the country from Sabah in Malaysia.
She added that President Rodrigo Duterte himself had said last November that the 7,000 undocumented Filipino workers who will be deported from the Malaysian island will be given access to health care and education.
Taguiwalo made the assurance following reports that Sabah is set to deport thousands of illegal immigrants from the Philippines using the assets of the Malaysian Royal Navy starting on February.
News reports quoted Malaysian Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman as saying that preparations for the mass deportation are being finalized following the agreement between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and President Duterte last November.
The president has agreed to give his full cooperation to Malaysia, even as Malaysian authorities has committed to lend their naval ships in deporting undocumented Filipinos.
According to Malaysian reports, the deportation centers in Sabah have already exceeded their capacity with more than 7,000 undocumented migrants. The reports added that the deportation procedure will be made using the Sandakan Port en route to Zamboanga.
“President Duterte has said that our ‘kababayans’ [compatriots] in Malaysia who stand to be deported will not be encouraged to seek clemency. Instead, they will be assisted during the process of deportation to ensure that their return to the Philippines will be as smooth as possible. The Department of Social Welfare and Development [DSWD] is one of the agencies that will work to help ensure this,” Taguiwalo said.
President Duterte also said that he will appeal to neutral agencies, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), to help build a hospital for Filipino migrants, and that Filipino medical personnel will be deployed to these health facilities to assist in the provision of services.
“For our part, our Protective Services Bureau (PSB), DSWD-Field Office 9 (in Zamboanga) and the DSWD-Field Office in the ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) are already in the process of putting together a plan of action to help our ‘kababayans.’ We will provide them with assistance that is within the means of the department to ensure that their immediate economic needs are met,” she said.
The social welfare chief also said that the returning Filipinos will be given food and medical assistance, as well as information on other DSWD services they can utilize as they begin their new lives in the Philippines.