eBalita - a FREE service that provides you the latest news from the Philippines through the Web and E-mail

Zamboanga City Mayor Maria Clara Lobregat on Wednesday expressed alarm over the influx of Filipino deportees to Zamboanga from Malaysia and wants those who would still be coming to be screened.

.

"That is one of my problems. I fear that if they come here they (the deportees) should be screened - where they come from, why they are here, what they have in mind," Lobregat said.

Lobregat said the Bureau of Immigration has informed her office that "many of those who have come in are not Filipinos who carry fake passports".

She proposed the installation of a system that would check deportees not only in Sabah but also in Zamboanga where at least 16,000 Filipino migrants have been staying since their repatriation from Malaysia, which waged a campaign against illegal aliens.

It was reported that another 1,300 deportees would be ferried to Zamboanga on a Philippine Navy ship Wednesday.

The government has stepped up efforts to provide more food and medication for the migrants who were reportedly maltreated by the Malaysian government, prompting the Macapagal administration to file a diplomatic protest.