Written by Joseph Sipalan, The Borneo Post’s headline story on November 7, “Kids not Filipinos,” the deck below saying “Philippine congressman says some 100,000 children of IMM13 holders in Sabah are not recognised by Manila,” quoted Tawi-tawi Rep. Nur Jaafar as saying that the Philippine government does not recognize as Filipino citizens the children of refugees who fled the war in Mindanao in the 1970s, claiming they were born outside the Philippines.
“The problem should be handled by Malaysia as this group of people (is) not recognized the Philippine Government as its citizens. We however hope the children would be given an education, on humanitarian grounds,” the Post quoted Jaafar as saying.
The Star article, “Manila refuses to accept refugee kids” by Muguntan Vanar quoted Jaafar as saying “it is our country’s stand not to accept the offspring of the refugees
as our citizens because they were born outside the Philippines.”
Jaafar told MindaNews Friday that he was “misquoted” by the newspapers and that he meant children of refugees born in Malaysia who had stayed in Malaysia and had married locals.
In the Nov. 8 issue of The Star, Philippine Ambassador to Malaysia, Victoriano Lecaros said Jaafar was apparently referring to the descendants of refugees who were more Malaysian than Filipino.[]
“These people have no more links with the Philippines. Many of them were born here and brought up here and they are more Malaysian than Filipino. If you give them a choice, I believe they will choose to remain here,” Lecaros said.
According to the Post, some 55,000 Filipino refugees are still living in Sabah, holding the IMM13 pass issued by the Immigrations Department.
The Sabah State Government initially issued IMM13 documents to 61,314 Filipino refugees seeking sanctuary from war in Mindanao in the 1970s.[]
