Malaysia agrees to consult ARMM on Sabah migrants

COTABATO CITY—Kuala Lumpur has agreed in principle to work with the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to address the growing problem of migrant workers in Sabah, ARMM officials said.

Naguib Sinarimbo, ARMM executive secretary, said that a meeting between an eight-man team he headed and Malaysian Parliament Speaker Seri Utama Pandikar Amin Bin Haji Mulia in Sabah last week resulted in an agreement to minimize the problem through cooperation.

“It was an opportunity for us to relay to Malaysian authorities our desire to trigger a non-political solution to the cycle of arrests and deportation involving Filipinos, who were considered to have snuck illegally to Malaysia,” Sinarimbo said.

An ARMM official, who wished to remain anonymous for lack of authority to speak on the matter, said that for many of those coming from the Moro areas of Western Mindanao, traveling to or working in Sabah is far from being illegal.

The territory, which Malaysia and the Philippines have laid contesting claims on, is considered, especially by the Tausugs of Sulu, as part of their Sultanate’s jurisdiction, the official said.

In a report furnished by Ministry of Human Resources Deputy Minister Maznah Mazlan, Sinarimbo said there were only 35,338 documented Filipino workers in Sabah.

On July 30, authorities in Tawi-Tawi reported having held 16 women, who were suspected to be victims of human trafficking, while they were about to leave the port of Bongao in Tawi-Tawi for Sabah.

Senior Supt. Rodelio Jocson, Tawi-Tawi police chief, said police authorities boarded and inspected MV Trishia Kirstine after receiving information that some women passengers were actually on their way to Sabah.

“We immediately alerted our team, the Tawi-Tawi Anti-Trafficking in Person Task Group and soon as the boat docked at the Bongao wharf, we conducted inspection and saved 16 women with ages ranging from 20 to 24 years old,” Jocson told the Inquirer by phone.

He said the women were promised by a still unidentified recruiter to work in Malaysia as domestic helper.

“But the women didn’t have any working document to show, only an electronic ticket provided by their recruiter, whom they met through a social networking site,” Jocson said.

He said he had coordinated with the Task Group on Anti-Trafficking in Persons here through Assistant City Prosecutor Darlene Pajarito “and all the women had been turned over to the Visayan Forum.” The nongovernment Visayan Forum is fighting trafficking in persons.

The rescue of the women was the second in Tawi-Tawi in July. On July 15, 19 females and two males were rescued in Bongao and Sitangkai towns.

Ali Macabalang, ARMM bureau of public information director, said the ARMM wanted to focus on its pragmatic economic dimension.

“We must discuss humanitarian efforts to document them (Filipino halaws) and let them work legally in Malaysian economic and infrastructure programs befitting their qualifications,” Sinarimbo said.

He said among those agreed upon in principle was the establishment of a processing center to provide documents like passports and work permits for Filipinos living illegally in Malaysia.

Sinarimbo said senior officials of the Malaysian Federal Land Development Authority also told them that some 40,000 additional workers were needed in the expansion of Malaysia’s 800,000 agricultural farms planted to oil palm, rubber and other value crops.