MANILA - A Philippine team is to leave today to check on the plight of at least 80,000 Filipino illegal migrants awaiting deportation from Sabah amid allegations of abuses by Malaysian authorities, officials said.

President Gloria Arroyo's adviser on Muslim affairs, Nur Jaafar, will lead the delegation, which was formed after Manila filed a diplomatic protest against Kuala Lumpur last week.

Thousands of mostly-Muslim Filipino migrants have arrived in the southern Philippines in recent days after Malaysia introduced last month tough laws against illegal immigrants, with punishments including a mandatory six-month jail term and up to six strokes of the cane.

The mass deportations have triggered public outrage in the Philippines after social workers said at least three Filipino children have died either in Malaysian holding centers or during the long boat journey back to southern Mindanao island.

Malaysia has denied the allegations but agreed to temporarily halt deportations after Arroyo and Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad agreed over the weekend to allow the Philippine inspectors to check on their condition.

Simplifying procedures

Arroyo "has instructed us to leave immediately and constitute our mission team and already go to Sabah to check on the plight of the Filipinos there and talk with (Malaysian) officials to simplify the deportation procedures," Jaafar said over DZBB radio.

"Based on our statistics an estimated 12,000 have already been deported and fetched by our Philippine navy vessels or went home voluntarily. Based on our record obtained from Sabah, there are 80,000 still waiting to be deported."

The actual number of Filipino illegals however could be higher because there are "a lot of our countrymen still hiding" to avoid arrest, Jaafar said.

The Philippine team is to leave on its two-week mission at 3.00 pm for Kota Kinabalu before heading to Sandakan, he added. AFP