More than 5,000 Filipinos will be deported from Malaysia, 400 out of which will arrive in Tawi-Tawi this Saturday.
According to Ivan Eric Salvador, Department of Social Welfare and Development’s information officer in Zamboanga regional office confirmed that the first batch of deportees will comprise 394 Filipinos while the remaining deportees will arrive in the Philippines in the next two weeks.
Salvador also said that 206 were residents of Tawi-Tawi while the remaining 88 will go to Zamboanga City before finally returning to their hometowns on Sunday. Out of these remaining 88 returnees, 12 are from Zamboanga City, 13 are from Basilan, 35 are from Sulu, 5 are from Zamboanga del Sur, 8 are from Zamboanga del Norte, 4 are from Zamboanga Sibugay, and 11 are from Cebu, Bukidnon, General Santos, Negros Occidental, Davao, Bohol, Lanao del Sur, Siquijor, La Union and Cavite.
The deportees will undergo health checking and assistance from the doctors, social workers, and quarantine workers who will be assisting them.
But according to Cabinet secretary of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Mohammad AsninPendatun, these Filipinos in Malaysia already undergone antigen testing before they were sent back to the Philippines.
“They have already undergone testing and they all tested negative,” adding that the Bangsamoro government is well-prepared for the arrival of these Filipinos.
This latest deportation of Filipinos from Malaysia is currently the largest following the major crackdown in 2002 where 64,000 undocumented OFWs were deported back to the Philippines.
Source : Inquirer
