ZAMBOANGA, Philippines - More than 1,000 illegal migrants arrived in the southern Philippines aboard a Filipino navy vessel on Thursday, a day after being deported from nearby Malaysia, officials said.

The navy ship Dagupan City sailed into Bongao in the Tawi-Tawi group southwest of here at mid-morning. It was carrying 1,451 deportees across the sea border from the Sabah port of Sandakan, said regional navy chief Commodore Ernesto de Leon.

President Gloria Arroyo flew to Bongao earlier Thursday to welcome the deportees.

The mass deportations, which followed the enforcement of a tough new Malaysian immigration law, has caused strains in bilateral relations between the two Southeast Asian neighbors.