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."

The lawyer informed Perez that "he is satisfied with the way the investigation was conducted," by the two Malaysian policemen who accompanied him here earlier this month.

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo had written to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad asking him to act on the case which had sparked widespread outrage here.

Mahathir pledged a swift response and dispatched the investigators.

Three rapists identified

Perez earlier said the girl identified seven rapists from photographs provided by the Malaysian police but he corrected himself, saying only three had been identified.

He said the alleged perpetrators could be identified by body marks that the girl remembered.

However the girl will likely have to return to Malaysia to identify the accused personally so that the charges can be filed there, he added.

Perez said he would ask that a representative of the Philippine government be allowed to accompany her.

There have been questions on whether the girl might actually be qualified for Malaysian citizenship if it is proved that she has a Malaysian father.

Perez said Malaysian citizenship might keep her from being sent back to the Philippines but the rape charges will be filed either way. — AFP