NEWSFLASH

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NORA, RANDY WOW ERAP FANS IN KL

Kuala Lumpur, Nov. 17, 1998 - Thousands of Filipino Overseas Workers (OFW) jumped and sang with the Philippines' top entertainers brought along by President Joseph Estrada as a special surprise treat during his dialogue with the Malaysian Pinoy community at the Legend Hotel.

Legendary actress-singer Nora Aunor and movie-TV personality Randy Santiago sang and joked with a crowd which went beyond the expected 1,500. Nora and Randy flew on with Estrada on the presidential special Philippine Airline Airbus from Manila.

Nora is a very close friend of President Estrada. She was the main attraction in all his presidential campaign sorties all over the Philippines during the last presidential campaign.

The thousands who witnessed last night's program are but a small percentage of the 305,000 OFWs and Pinoy expats in Malaysia, 270,000 of whom are in Sabah.

Filipinos in Malaysia are concentrated in Sabah and Labuan territory in East Malaysia. In Mainland Malaysia, they are clustered in Kuala Lumpur at the Klang Valley, Penang, Johor and Malacca. There are four categories of Filipinos in Sabah: Filipino Sabahans, refugees, transients and illegal immigrants.

Filipino Sabahans are Filipinos born in Sabah of Filipino parents whose stay in the state was legal. Their parents, generally professionals and technicians, were employed in Sabah before Sabah joined the Federation of Malaysia.

Filipino refugees are Muslim Filipinos from Mindanao who entered Sabah from 1972 to 1979 at the height of the separatist-military conflicts during the martial law period.

Filipino transients are businessmen/traders, students, tourists and workers.

The Filipinos in Malaysia are mainly from Mindanao, majority of whom had illegally entered through the Philippines' southern backdoor, using boats to hop from island to island.

A small group consists of Filipino families or descendants of Filipinos who had been recruited by the British government or British companies to work in rubber, logging and timber operations.