PH seeks to register, provide services to stateless Pinoys in Sabah

DFA Building. (Photo: Department of Foreign Affairs, Republic of the Philippines/Facebook)

MANILA – The Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur is targeting to register around 550,000 “stateless” Filipinos in Sabah, and eventually provide them with services available to Filipino citizens, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Tuesday night.

There are about 770,000 Filipinos in Sabah, 550,000 of whom are undocumented, DFA Undersecretary Eduardo Jose de Vega said. 

“The embassy provides no timeline. It is an ongoing project that will take years. We do not have a permanent office in Sabah,” he said in a text message.

De Vega noted that most of these undocumented nationals lack identification documents deterring them from birth registration.

In an ABS-CBN interview in Malaysia, Philippine Ambassador-designate to Malaysia Maria Angela Ponce said the embassy has been sending a mission to provide civil registry services to Filipinos in the area.

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She noted that under Malaysian laws, individuals who are not Malaysian nationals or permanent residents cannot access education there, which is why the embassy is working with non-government organizations to provide them with alternative learning centers.

For health care, the embassy is also working with the Department of Health to provide basic health services to them.