Malaysia denies maltreatment of Filipino illegals

Malaysia has denied allegations of maltreatment of Filipino illegal migrants who were recently deported to the Philippines.

In an interview with reporters, Malaysia's Ambassador to the Philippines aired Kuala Lumpur's side in the raging controversy that came after boatloads of Filipinos from eastern Sabah state returned to their home country with tales of suffering from alleged inhuman treatment by Malaysian authorities.

Ambassador Mohammed Taufik Noor said the accusations were baseless. "We have investigated the charges and found them to be baseless," he said.

Earlier, the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) sent a consular delegation to Sabah to investigate the allegations by deported Filipinos.

The allegations of maltreatment had caught the attention of Philippine senators who demanded immediate action from the DFA to clarify the issue. Manila sent a delegation to Malaysia as DFA officials themselves expressed doubts about the veracity of the accounts of those deported.

So far, the Philippine probe team has not issued its own findings. Last week, Philippine military authorities in the south said the Coast Guard had intercepted a fishing boat loaded with 120 Filipino passengers from Sabah inside Philippine waters.

Lt. Gen. Ernesto Carolina, chief of the Philippine Southern Command, said the boat was overloaded as it is capable of accommodating only 30 passengers.

The deported Filipinos, who said they were arrested by authorities in Sabah, brought back stories of being herded into the tiny vessels by Malaysian immigration agents using hot poker rods.

Meanwhile, DFA Secretary, Blas Ople, said he will visit Malaysia soon to take up with officials there the issue of the impending deportation of 4,800 Filipinos detained there for violating immigration laws.

The Malaysian government had notified the DFA that it will deport the detained Filipinos before August 24.