Filipinos ‘Driven Out Of Sabah’

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31655, 16 April 1968, Page 15

Filipinos ‘Driven Out Of Sabah’

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) MANILA, April 15. About 100 Filipino workers who claim they were expelled from the Malaysian Borneo State of Sabah before the termination of their work permits, arrived in the Southern Philippines yesterday starving and penniless, according to newspaper reports in Manila.

They are quoted as saying they were driven out of Sabah “because of the Corregidor incident.” (The Corregidor affair blew up last month after disclosures that a special forces training camp had been set up on the island, at the entrance of Manila Bay, to train soldiers to infiltrate into Sabah. Malaysia expressed concern to the Philippines over these reports, but was told that the special forces were intended for counter-insurgency operations in the Philippines only). The returning Filipinos said they could have stayed in Sabah only if they joined the Malaysian Army. They claimed that military cars patrolled

Sabah at night “to haul Filipinos to gaol for loitering.” The workers alleged that conditions in the territory were unbearable for them because of restrictions, discrimination in wages, and high food prices. Many other Filipinos wanted to go home, they added. Philippine Foreign Office officials are awaiting confirmation of the press reports, but in the meantime are apprehensive that, coming in the wake of other incidents which have disrupted the friendly relations between Malaysia and the Philippines during the past few weeks, this could cause a hardening of the Philippines attitude towards Malaysia.