14 March 2005 – The Department of Foreign Affairs today announced that Malaysian immigration officials have arrived in the Philippines on 12 March 2005 to complement the inter-agency staff assembled by the Philippine government to form the One-Stop Processing Centers (OSPC) in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi and Zamboanga City.  The government established the two Processing Centers to facilitate the documentation of Filipinos returnees from Malaysia who were covered by Malaysia’s implementation of its immigration laws.

In accordance with the agreements reached during the First Meeting of the RP-Malaysia Working Group on Migrant Workers, the Malaysian government deployed two teams of five immigration officials each to the Processing Centers located in Bongao Tawi-Tawi and Zamboanga City.  The First Meeting of the RP-Malaysia Working Group on Migrant Workers, which was hosted by the DFA on 07 March 2005, was attended by Philippine and Malaysian sub-ministerial officials from various concerned government agencies to discuss areas of cooperation to facilitate the repatriation and rehiring of undocumented Filipino workers in Malaysia.

The Malaysian immigration officials were sent for the purpose of coordinating with their Filipino counterparts in processing applications for work permits and to facilitate in the issuance of these permits to qualified and duly documented OFWs.

The Malaysian five-man team sent to Zamboanga City will assume their posts at the OSPC there starting today, 14 March.  The team is composed of Mr. Yusof Dulang, Mr. Mohd Arif Bin Ahmad Tajuddin, Mr. Abdul Karim Erang, Mr. Noorjamri Jamal and Mr. Abdul Rahman Bin Bakar.

The team bound for Bongao, Tawi-Tawi will start their work tomorrow, 15 March and is composed of Mr. Verus Mark, Mr. Mohd Yusof Bin Ibrahim, Mr. Rudy Zulkiflie S. Abbie, Mr. Phaisal Marbaki and Mr. Musa Bin Yasin.

At present, both teams are expected to stay in their assigned One-Stop Processing Centers until 15 April 2005.  This date may be extended in the future, depending on the need and volume of OFWs to be processed.

In line with this, the DFA Mobile Passport Services Team sent to Bongao, Tawi-Tawi will extend its originally appointed length of stay in the OSPC there in anticipation of the increased number of passport applicants and to coordinate with the other Filipino and Malaysian government representatives stationed there.  Representatives from the DFA Regional Consular Office in Region IX are also stationed at the Processing Center in Zamboanga City.  END
 

/jay