Filipino workers was on a downtrend from its peak of 1 .9 million in 1998 to 881,123 in 2005 but has then started to steadily rise again to reach 900,023 in 2007 . The US (155,843) has the most irregular workers closely followed by Malaysia (128,000) and then Singapore (56,000) although the Middle East as a region also has a relatively large concentration (121,850). There is also the phenomenon of OFW runaways being rendered 'undocumented' when their work permits are arbitrarily cancelled by employers in host countries, such as in Saudi Arabia. One track of addressing their situation is to facilitate their documentation to enable them to assert their rights at least as far as documented workers are able to. Another track is "decriminalize" them and not make them subject to arrest and detention simply on the basis of being undocumented in their destination countries. And there is also the possibility of their rights as workers to be given expression by allowing them, again despite their technically undocumented status, to unionize and negotiate terms of employment. Underlying all these are the difficult but necessary tasks of more accurate monitoring of undocumented workers and of immediately ensuring that there are mechanisms for responding to their needs. The situation of, by Migrante estimates, some 500,000 undocumented Filipinos in nearby and accessible Sabah is alarming. Filipinos are among the migrants of different nationalities facing severe conditions in its lucrative palm oil plantations there of human trafficking and modern day slavery. Addressing their situation is made particularly diffrcult because Sabah is contested territory between the Philippines and Malaysia. Thousands of Filipinos are lured to work in Sabah's plantations by low transaction and travel costs where, upon arrival, their passports are confiscated and they are issued instead working permits. Filipinos seeking work paid piddling amounts far below the minimum wage in either the Philippines or Malaysia from which travel expenses and exorbitant fees for the permit and facilitation are even deducted. The Malaysian government has been raiding migrant workers and their families including children in their villages, bringing them to precincts and detaining them. Undocumented Filipino workers have suffered detention in overcrowded detention cells, slept on bare floors, been fed spoiled food and barely given water, maltreated and physical abused, had their personal possessions confiscated (e.g., cash, watches, jeweller), and been given medical attention only upon becoming seriously ill or dying. There have already been reports of deaths and suicides in these conditions. Children have been separated from their parents and relatives have not been informed. The Malaysian Home Ministry reported 43 Filipino migrant and refugee children detained in its immigration detention centers in 2007 and 2008, although it is unclear how many of these were from Sabah. Yet embassies and consulate offices that should serve as support networks and sanctuaries for runaway migrants are non-existent. The Philippine government rebuffed the idea of setting up a diplomatic outpost in Sabah since this will jeopardize the country's claim to it - although it has nonetheless been issuing passports, at rates higher 35