Philippine President Gloria Arroyo expressed outrage yesterday at reports that a Filipina girl was sexually abused in a Malaysian detention centre for illegal immigrants and asked Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to immediately act on the complaint.

Arroyo's concern over the reported abuse of the 13-year-old girl was expressed in a letter to Mahathir, the foreign department said in a statement.

The letter was delivered to Malaysian ambassador to Manila Taufik Noor, who was summoned to Foreign Secretary Blas Ople's office yesterday.

"I express my personal outrage and that of the Filipino people and which I am sure you will also condemn in the strongest terms," Arroyo said in the letter to Mahathir.

Ople also lodged a diplomatic protest with Kuala Lumpur on the reported incident, the foreign department said.

The incident "calls to question Malaysia's adherence to all United Nationsnternational conventions on human rights, especially the rights of women and children, and may question an act of aggression against civilisation itself," the protest note said.

The Philippine government "condemns in the strongest terms this outrage" and is calling on Kuala Lumpur to "conduct a swift and thorough investigation of the report, leading to the prosecution and trial of those found responsible," the note added.

Malaysia shares outrage

Malaysian ambassador Taufik told AFP the "Malaysian government will certainly share the same sense of outrage if it is proven that such an abuse had taken place on this child".

"We are waiting for documents and evidence on the matter from the Philippine authorities and we will forward them to Kuala Lumpur," he said.

Press reports here said the unnamed girl was among 500 illegal Filipino migrants who arrived in the southern Philipine port of Bongao aboard a coast guard ship Tuesday.

Social workers said the girl needed immediate psychological help. Local media had reported that Filipinas were sexually abused in Malaysian detention centers but authorities there have denied the charge.

Thousands of illegal Filipino migrants have been deported to the southern Philippines or voluntarily returned home after Malaysia introduced in August tough immigration laws that included caning.

Following complaints of ill-treatment, Malaysia agreed last week to temporarily freeze deportations of Filipino illegals and opened the doors of their holding camps to a special Philippine team headed by Arroyo's adviser Nur Jaafar.

Jaafar has urged the Malaysian government to improve conditions at its detention centers "in accordance with international law."

Jaafar said he had also received complaints of sexual abuse, but did not elaborate. AFP