Arroyo Outrageous at Sexual Abuse of Filipina Teenager in Malaysia

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, September 05, 2002

Arroyo Outrageous at Sexual Abuse of Filipina Teenager in Malaysia

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Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo expressed her outrage on Wednesday in a letter toMalaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad over the alleged sexual abuse of a 13-year-old Filipino girl detained in Malaysia.

"I express my personal outrage and that of the Filipino people and which I am sure you will also condemn in the strongest terms,"the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs quoted Arroyo as saying in her letter to Mahathir.

Foreign Secretary Blas Ople handed Arroyo's letter to MalaysianAmbassador to Manila Taufik Noor on Wednesday, the Philippine Daily Inquirer on-line news reported.

Ople also handed to Noor a sternly worded formal diplomatic protest, saying the alleged abuse of the girl "calls to question Malaysia's adherence to all the United Nations international conventions on human rights, specially the rights of women and children, and may constitute an act of aggression against civilization itself."

In her letter, Arroyo also called for "the swift prosecution ofthe alleged perpetrator, identified as a policeman assigned to thedetention center in Kota Kinabalu."

Malaysia has deported tens of thousands of undocumented foreignworkers, including Indonesians and Filipinos from its eastern state of Sabah in the past few months amid the enforcement of its new immigration law.

A separate report here said the Philippine government is preparing charges against the Malaysian authorities for the alleged abuse, which came to light after the girl confided to social workers that guards at the Sabah detention center for illegal migrants molested her.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development is gathering evidence related to the case so they could be turned over to the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Justice for the filing of appropriate charges, the report said.

Also on Wednesday, Makalaya, a Filipino women's group rallied in front of the Malaysian embassy in Manila to protest the allegedsexual abuse. The group denounced the alleged "immorality and gross violation of human rights."

Kuala Lumpur, on the other hand, has denied the claims, and asked Manila to produce solid evidence supporting its allegation.

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