ZAMBOANGA CITY - Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz
the other day instructed the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Regional
Coordination Committee in the Zamboanga Peninsula Region to work together and
beef up the One-Stop Shop Processing Center (OSSPC) to assist Filipino
deportees from Sabah.
Sec. Baldoz, however, emphasized that the 289 deportees assisted by the
DOLE were “regular deportees,” and their deportation were not in any way
connected to the tension in Sabah between the Malaysian authorities and the
heirs of the Sultan of Sulu.
"I visited Zamboanga City to get the best handle of the situation
that might involve our OFWs in Sabah. I was informed by our field officials
that the 289 are "regular deportees" who came from all over Sabah and
Peninsular Malaysia through regular commercial vessels from Sandakan," she
said.
"In fact, our data showed that 195 deportees from Sandakan, Sabah
arrived last Jan. 6, while another 109 deportees arrived on Jan. 12, bringing
the total deportees to 897 this year alone. The transportation expenses of
these deportees were shouldered by the Malaysian government," she added.
Because of this seeming uptick in the number of deportees, Baldoz said, she
had ordered the DOLE Regional Coordination Committee to strengthen the OSSPC
Sabah at the height of the Malaysian crackdown on illegal immigrants in 2005.
"We have the template on how to deal with the arrival of deportees
and we are activating and strengthening it just as there will be an influx of
deportees,” she said during a meeting of the RCC which was attended by the
heads of the DOLE Regional Office, OWWA, POEA, TESDA, and the NCMB.
The heads of the PRC and the NLRC failed to attend the meeting.
The OSSPC, located at the Area Vocational and Rehabilitation Center in
Mampang, Zamboanga City, was created through Administrative Order No. 115 on March
5, 2005.
Baldoz, then administrator of the POEA, supervised its operations and
she even visited Bongao in Tawi-Tawi, Sandakan and Kota Kinabalu in Sabah to
coordinate with Malaysian employers and authorities for the safe return to the
Philippines of undocumented OFWs and their safe and legal return to Malaysia.
The OSSPC provides various services to the deportees, including
transient stay, passport services, NSO birth certificate issuance, NBI
clearance issuance, TESDA training, POEA processing of OEC, OWWA membership, reintegration
services such livelihood, capability building, and entrepreneurship skills, and
referral for local employment.
The OSSPC Baldoz was also informed by the RCC officials that they have
already established a Crisis Management Committee to respond just in case there
will be an influx of deportees.
"The DOLE is ready to help facilitate the smooth arrival of the
deportees and we are ready with our reintegration programs and other services.
However, we must work in convergence with other national agencies and local
government authorities," Baldoz said.
DOLE’s partner, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)
has extended support by preparing deportees’ profile and providing food,
accommodation, transportation, and other humanitarian support services.
Malayan immigration records showed that there were 57,500 Filipino
workers with work permit in Sabah as of 2010. These Filipinos went to Sabah
illegally and did not pass through POEA processing. There were another 95,951
illegal workers registered under the Malaysian's Operation Bersepadu in 2010. (PIA9)