Is another cover-up of the true circumstances surrounding the death of two Filipino child deportees following a similar incident last year? This seems to be the picture emerging, the Asia-Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) said.

Last year, two-year old Rene Nasir died of severe dehydration, while 15 other deportees from Malaysia were admitted into hospital.

The Hong Kong-based migrants advocacy group said today that a 'definite cover-up is in the can' to conceal the parties or individuals responsible for the death of Timah Basir, 13, and Nurhani Nurmin, 3, more than one month ago during their deportation from Malaysia.

APMM welfare officer Esther C Bangcauayan said this upon receiving information that suggests a different picture than that given by Malaysian officials about Timah and Nurhani, who had died soon after being deported from Sabah on Sept 29.

According to a source, at least one of the girls was unable to walk by herself but had to be carried on a stretcher onto the ship on the day of their deportation.

According to Sabah Special Federal Task Force director Masri Barham, however, Timah and Nurhani, who hailed from Sumisip, Basilan, were said to have only slightly raised temperatures upon boarding the MV Danica Joy to be ferried to Zamboanga City.

On a stretcher

Malaysian officials, said Masri, had asked the families of Timah and Nurhani if their children were alright before they had boarded the ferry.

"If the deportees really are sick, we do not let them go. We asked the parents (of Timah and Nurhani), and they told us they (their children) were okay. We confirmed the children were okay," he said.

That one of the girls who had died was on a stretcher when boarding the ferry contradicted official insistence that they were 'okay' and suggests they were not sufficiently in good health to make the one-day journey, said Bancauayan.

Furthermore, she added, the ordeal of deportation itself may have triggered the downturn that led to their death - which could have been prevented had they been given adequate medical care and rest while in the Menggatal immigration detention camp.

"We reiterate that the governments of Malaysia and the Philippines are liable for the death of those poor children," said Bancauayan, repeating an earlier statement .

When asked on this matter, congressman Nur Gaspar Jaafar from the Philippines' House of Representatives declined to confirm it or deny the information.

"This is for the Malaysian authorities investigating the matter to validate or confirm," he said when met yesterday.

Jaafar heads a congressional delegation of Muslim legislators currently on a visit to Malaysia as part of efforts to ease the hardship suffered by Filipino nationals subjected to detention and deportation by the immigration authorities.

The delegation, which arrived on Tuesday, is in Sabah today to inspect the conditions of detainees awaiting deportation at the state's three detention centres.

To be discussed

In his interview with malaysiakini yesterday, Jaafar said neither government is 'blaming' the other for the children's death.

When contacted, Sabah Immigration Department director Baharon Talib declined to comment further on the case as the relevant report had already been submitted to the Philippine embassy.

"I regard the case file as closed, and I do not wish to make the issue any bigger than it is," said Baharon - whose agency is responsible for the logistics of the deportation process - when contacted today.

In another development, however, Philippines' Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said the plight of undocumented Filipino migrants facing deportation by Malaysia would be taken up in future discussions between the two governments on the matter.

The Manila Standard today reported Romulo as having invoked a standing agreement between Malaysia and the Philippines that only those in good health condition will be "repatriated."

There is an agreement to provide access to health facilities to returning Filipinos and to repatriate only those who are fit to travel, he said.