MANILA, 31 August — President Gloria Arroyo has spoken with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and they agreed on "substantial issues" surrounding the growing outcry over alleged mistreatment of Filipino illegal immigrants in Malaysia, Malacañang said yesterday.

"The president has already talked with Prime Minister Mahathir this afternoon," presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said, who said the two discussed "the calibrated response of the government."

"She called, she raised her concerns about the plight of the deportees, and they had substantial agreement on what needs to be done," Bunye told The Associated Press by telephone.

He refused to give details, saying that Arroyo would make an official statement in a broadcast on television and radio today.

Bunye said the two leaders spoke after Arroyo returned from a visit to the southern Philippines, which included meetings with Filipino deportees who had been repatriated from Malaysia.

Another official said Arroyo was smiling as she talked to Mahathir but was unsure how long the call that started at 5:15 p.m. lasted.

The call came shortly after former President Fidel Ramos rebuffed Arroyo’s plan to send him as a personal emissary to Malaysia to discuss better treatment of Filipinos facing deportation.

"President Arroyo should call PM Mahathir immediately by cell phone, because according to reports from Malacanang and from media, they are cell phone pals," Ramos told reporters. "And what’s wrong with talking about this problem?"

He said the National Security Council should first discuss sending an emissary, who should be a Muslim like most of the deportees, "who have their own culture — I would say very similar to Malaysian Muslim culture."

Arroyo said on Thursday she planned to send Ramos to Malaysia to discuss the migrants issue with Mahathir "so that the remaining deportations will be smoother."

But Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar questioned the need for Ramos to come to Kuala Lumpur.

"We don’t know what his objective is. We won’t say that we don’t want him. If that’s what they want it’s up to our leader to receive him," he told a news conference on yesterday.

Protests continue

Thousands of mostly Muslim Filipino illegal immigrants have arrived in the southern island group of Mindanao in recent days since Malaysia began expelling illegals on Aug. 1 under a new law.

Social workers say three babies had died of diseases or exposure to the elements during the mass deportation and many of those sent back also suffered from dehydration and respiratory infections.

For the third day in a row, the Malaysian Embassy was the site of pickets over the reports that the mostly-Muslim Filipinos being deported from Malaysia were subject to mistreatment in holding centers in Malaysia’s Sabah state.

Demonstrators from various activist and local Muslim groups stomped on Malaysian flags, burned them and shouted slogans assailing Malaysian authorities.

"What you did is un-Islamic," protest leader Mohammad Ersad Manli said, speaking on a megaphone.

Policemen prevented the demonstrators from entering the embassy compound in the Makati financial district. The rallyists held placards declaring "Stop injustice and oppression" and "We condemn Malaysian authorities."

Manila earlier this week filed a diplomatic protest with Kuala Lumpur over the alleged mistreatment of illegals.

Conflicting reports over deaths

A Malaysian official had earlier denied that infants died in detention centers housing illegal Filipino workers being deported from eastern Sabah state.

"The infants may have died while receiving treatment at the hospitals as those who complained about illness were immediately referred to the nearest hospitals," director of the Federal Special Task Force, Mohd Ghazali Ahmad, told yesterday’s edition of the New Straits Times.

In addition, officials from the UNHCR and the Philippines had expressed satisfaction about conditions at the Sabah detention camps when they had visited them, he said.

Philippines Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said later only three of the children had died during the crackdown, the others having died before it began.

But Lowell Martin, head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Kuala Lumpur, denied any of his staff had visited the Sabah camps.

"We have never made any visits," he told Reuters, adding the UN agency’s concern was that no refugees or asylum seekers were sent home against their will.

Victims urged to file charges

The Philippine foreign affairs department (DFA), meanwhile, advised deportees to file formal complaints against Malaysian authorities who allegedly mistreated them while in detention. The department issued the statement amid calls for the Philippine government to demand an apology and compensation for alleged inhumane treatment of thousands of Filipino illegal aliens deported from the Malaysian state of Sabah.

However, it noted that "under traditional international law, a private person must exhaust the domestic remedies available under the forum where the injury took place before asking his her government to enter the picture."

"Since the injuries were sustained in Malaysia, appropriate remedies may be sought under the Malaysian justice system," it said in a statement. "Only when this avenue has been exhausted can the Philippine government be asked to extend diplomatic protection."

Malaysian Ambassador to Manila Mohammed Taufik said Thursday Kuala Lumpur will investigate the allegations of maltreatment, and promised to take action if proven to be true.

Perez vowed to assist Filipinos who have suffered in the hands of the Malaysian authorities if they decide to file complaints or seek damages.

Perez said that since Filipino lawyers cannot practice in Malaysia, the complainants should hire Malaysian lawyers, and the justice department will provide "all the legal assistance that would be needed in prosecuting the case."