Kuala Lumpur and Manila have agreed to procedures that will ensure the swift return to Malaysia of some of the thousands of Philippines workers who are being expelled under an immigration crackdown, a Filipino official said today.

A Malaysian delegation led by Aseh Che Mat, secretary-general of the home ministry, met with Philippines Foreign Undersecretary Jose Brillantes to ratify the procedure for processing the deported illegals, Brilllantes told reporters after the meeting.

Under the agreement, Kuala Lumpur is to send at least eight immigration officials to the Philippines to work with their local counterparts at the so-called "One-Stop Processing Centers" that would provide travel documents to deported Filipino illegals wishing to return to Malaysia.

Two of these centers have been set up in Bonggao, in the Tawi-Tawi island group in the southern Philippines adjacent to the Malaysian state of Sabah as well as in the southern city of Zamboanga, and the Malaysian immigration officials will start work there next week, Brillantes said.

In a joint statement both sides agreed to establish a "working group" on Filipino migrant workers to discuss all issues concerning Filipino workers including recruitment and employment in Malaysia.

The group will meet at least twice a year with the first meeting scheduled for two months from now in Sandakan, Malaysia, the statement said.

The statement added Kuala Lumpur had vowed "to keep the repatriation of Filipinos in manageable numbers so as to avoid overcrowding in reception centers."

Malaysia last week began to detain, whip and deport hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, detaining more than 600 foreigners so far, mostly Indonesians. However, some Malaysian businesses want some of the illegals back due to a labor shortage.

311 back in Malaysia

"They (Malaysian authorities) will post their own officers there (at the one-stop centers) to accelerate the process so that after the documentation on the Philippine side they can do the documentation on the Malaysian side and workers (can) return as soon as possible," Brillantes said.

The Philippines labor department is optimistic that a deported illegal can be properly documented and turned around "in one to three days' time," he added.

Brillantes said 311 of those who fled to the Philippines before the crackdown started have since returned to Malaysia.

Meanwhile, at least 216 Filipinos have been detained in the Malaysian crackdown. "They were arrested and biometrics (tests) were applied on them," the official added.