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Roel Pareño - The Philippine Star
January 18, 2026 | 12:00am
The arrival of the deportees, who were described as “returning Filipinos,” was facilitated by the local office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, in coordination with concerned government agencies.
DSWD
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — Up to 844 Filipinos who were deported from Sabah following a crackdown against undocumented foreigners arrived in this city yesterday morning.
The arrival of the deportees, who were described as “returning Filipinos,” was facilitated by the local office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, in coordination with concerned government agencies.
The returnees – who included 518 men, 210 women and 116 minors – arrived on board a commercial vessel, M/V Antonio, from Sandakan.
The returnees were given food and brought to the DSWD’s processing center for displaced persons, according to Riduan Hadjimuddin, chief of the DSWD-Zamboanga peninsula office.
Local DSWD officials coordinated with their counterparts in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, where most of the deported Filipinos came from.
The deportation is the first for this year as hundreds more are reportedly waiting to be repatriated from Malaysia.
