Conditions at a Sabah deportation camp at the centre of a row over the alleged mistreatment of Filipino illegal immigrants were defended Friday by camp officials.

Ismail Zakaria, deputy chief of the Sandakan detention camp denied charges that children had died in the centre.

He said television footage of a mother weeping over her dead baby, which has provoked anger in the Philippines, had been shot on a Philippine naval ship ferrying deportees home and it was possible that the mother had not reported the child's weak condition before boarding the ship.

"If she had come to us and told us her child was sick, we would immediately send the infant to the hospital, with the mother," he said.

"But these immigrants, they don't want to remain in the camp longer than they have to, so they fear missing the boat home while they are in the hospital."

He said said inmates were sent to the hospital as soon as they complained of illness, and none had died in the camp.

Nothing to gain

"We treat them properly here, and these allegations are all baseless. What do we have to gain, by denying them basic needs like healthcare and food?

"They are human, too, and besides, if any of them die, we will also have a lot of answering to do," he said.

"After what the government has been doing, the money we have spent on these immigrants, this is the thanks we get."

Another official at the camp said inmates were given three meals a day, consisting of rice, vegetables and fish.

He admitted that overcrowding was sometimes a problem, with more than 1,000 inmates living in the centre with a capacity for 850 people.

"Because of the overcrowding, when a ship is delayed and there is nowhere else to put the immigrants, fights tend to break out, but it's always kept in control," he said.

The camp, which sits atop a hill on the outskirts of Sandakan town, has four blocks which are divided into women's and men's quarters.

Inmates could be seen walking around the compound, but AFP was refused permission to speak to them.

Manila protests

The alleged mistreatment of Filipinos in Malaysia has sparked protests in Manila, and President Gloria Arroyo has expressed her dismay over the plight of the deportees.

Foreign Secretary Blas Ople said Filipino diplomats had established that "two infants had died of dehydration and pulmonary diseases and many others bore signs of weakness and disease due to lack of food and clean water" at Malaysian holding centers.

The government introduced a tough immigration law that took effect on Aug 1 prescribing jail terms and up to six strokes of the cane for persons convicted of illegal entry.

Since February, about 64,000 Filipinos have left Sabah and about 4,000 others are awaiting deportation. Up to half-a-million Filipinos live in Sabah. AFP