The Philippines today warned illegal Filipino workers in Malaysia to take advantage of an amnesty for them to return home without punishment.

"Once again I call upon the undocumented Filipinos in Malaysia to avail of the Malaysian immigration amnesty and cooperate with our embassy officials who are ready to provide assistance and arrange for the repatriation of Filipino amnesty seekers," Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said.

Filipinos in Malaysia should "take advantage of the situation now," Romulo said in a statement after the extension of a conditional amnesty for illegal immigrants indefinitely that was announced on Wednesday.

The amnesty had put off at the last minute a threatened nationwide sweep in Malaysia to arrest illegal migrants.

8,000 Filipinos had left

Malaysian Home Minister Azmi Khalid said the decision to extend the amnesty was taken at a cabinet meeting today, based on a written request from Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and taking into consideration the damage suffered by Indonesia in the December tsunami.

The Philippine government had also asked Malaysia to extend the amnesty by a month to accommodate the estimated 170,000 Filipinos who failed to take the chance to leave the country legally.

Romulo said so far 8,000 Filipinos had availed of Manila's policy for voluntary repatriation under Malaysia's amnesty programme but he did not say how many more undocumented Filipinos were still left in Malaysia.