MANILA- A Malaysian investigator is to recommend charges be filed against three guards who allegedly raped a 13-year-old Filipina at an illegal immigrants holding centre in Sabah, said a top Philippine justice official today.

The Malaysian investigator was part of a three-member probe team sent to Manila to interview the girl who made the rape complaint after being deported along with thousands of Filipinos from Malaysia in a crackdown on illegals there.

Philippine Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said he had been informed by a Malaysian lawyer in the probe that "they will endorse the charges to the attorney-general in Malaysia."