Philippines proposes bilateral mechanism with Malaysia for undocumented Filipinos in Sabah

Hundreds of thousands of undocumented Filipinos live in Sabah, a Borneo region also claimed by the Philippines.
Jeoffrey Maitem and Mark Navales
2024.10.09
Davao, Philippines
Philippines proposes bilateral mechanism with Malaysia for undocumented Filipinos in Sabah Children row a boat near a seaweed farm in Tuaran, Sabah, Malaysia, July 8, 2018
Edgar Su/Reuters

The Philippines this week proposed establishing a bilateral mechanism with Malaysia to provide social services to hundreds of thousands of undocumented Filipinos in Sabah, a Malaysian state and region in Borneo claimed by both nations.

Nearly 800,000 Filipinos live in Sabah, but more than half are undocumented, according to Manila’s foreign office. 

“Though many [Filipinos] have been given residency status in Sabah, many remain undocumented,” Philippine National Security Adviser Eduardo Año said during a meeting on Tuesday with his Malaysian counterpart in Manila, according to a partial transcript released Wednesday. 

“It is the desire of our government to register all of these undocumented Filipinos for them to access social services offered by the Philippine government.”

In his talks with Raja Nushirwan Zainal Abidin, Año suggested a “bilateral platform” for this issue, but did not give more details or a timeline.

In August, Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo said Manila was regularly sending consular missions to Sabah to cater to the needs of Filipinos living there.

On Tuesday, Malaysian officials did not provide their immediate comment to BenarNews about the issue.

Located off the far southwestern Philippines and in the north of Borneo island, Sabah has long been a thorny issue between the neighboring countries – both founding members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Manila claims Sabah based on historical records showing it belonged to a sultanate in the Sulu Islands that leased the territory in 1878. Kuala Lumpur claims the payments to the sultanate are for the purchase of the land. 

The meeting between the two national security chiefs marked what both nations said was a “significant step in reinforcing the political, security and economic ties.”

Año welcomed Malaysia’s proposal for the establishment of a region-wide dialogue mechanism for national security advisers, to include their counterparts from other ASEAN member-states.

“This initiative aims to foster comprehensive regional discussions on security, paving the way for more coordinated action among member nations,” Año said.

Dispute over Sabah

Many Filipinos migrated to Sabah during the 1970s to escape from an armed conflict between government forces and secessionist guerrillas in the southern Philippines.

Founded in 1405, the Sultanate of Sulu ruled the islands in the Sulu Archipelago, parts of Mindanao in the southern Philippines and parts of Borneo, including Sabah, until about the early 1800s. 

Sabah was incorporated into Malaysia in 1963, but the country still pays token rent to the sultanate annually.

In 1968, then-Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. signed a law naming Sabah as part of Manila’s territory. 


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In 2013, about 200 armed men dispatched by Jamalul Kiram III, one of the claimants of the Sulu sultanate, entered Sabah’s Lahad Datu district to lay claim to the territory. Malaysian forces thwarted them, leaving over 50 of them dead.

Both Philippine and Malaysian governments have taken the dispute to the United Nations, with Manila rejecting a submission in 2019 by Kuala Lumpur seeking to extend its continental shelf beyond the northernmost point of Malaysian Borneo. 

Manila said it has never relinquished its sovereignty to the area.

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