Envoy: Filipinos balk at using travel papers

Manila's envoy to Kuala Lumpur Victoriano M Lecaros is at his wit's end trying to persuade his countrymen to enter Malaysia, especially Sabah, legally to spare everyone much heartache and embarrassment.

Filipinos in general, point out Lecaros, have been freely crossing the waters between Malaysia and the Philippines for the last 300 years without any papers or hindrance.

They see no reason why they should now change despite the advent of the nation-state with borders, laws and immigration controls to regulate the flow of traffic.

"We are constantly reminding our people to obtain valid travel papers to facilitate their legal entry to seek employment so that they can avoid the periodic campaigns and arrests for running foul of the law," said Lecaros last night at the sidelines of an early Christmas dinner function in Miri hosted by the SPI Samahang Pinoy Miri, an association for about 1.500 Filipinos working in Northern Sarawak.

"When we talk about the importance of acquiring valid travel papers, they can't seem to believe their ears. They tell us that their fathers and forefathers have been entering Malaysia freely without any problems whatsoever before and they see no reason why they should now suddenly make a change at great inconvenience, time, money and effort."

His remarks were carried by the Miri edition of Utusan Borneo, the only stand alone Malay language daily in Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei.
Blood ties, same language and dialects

According to Lecaros, many Filipinos in Sabah originate from Mindanao in the southern Philippines and the islands around it and lined like stepping stones to the islands in the waters of Malaysia and have Malaysian relatives.

"In fact, Filipinos in the south and the people in Sabah are not only related by blood, they also speak the same language and dialects," he said.

"I consider this a rather unique situation and my government is grateful to the authorities in Sabah that they are mindful of the situation (from historical times) and are cautious about moving firmly against illegal immigrants, over-stayers and their families."

Lecaros sounded an almost alarmist note when he disclosed that many more thousands of Filipinos, especially from the south, would have descended on Sabah, lured by the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, had they not been restrained by the need to have valid travel papers amidst constant reminders from Manila on the importance of leaving and entering the country legally.

Already, it seems that 90,000 have registered with labour agents back in the Philippines to enter Malaysia but are yet to obtain their passports. Most Filipinos in Sabah, according to the Philippines Embassy records, are employed in construction, plantation, fisheries and timber industry or as domestic help in restaurants and shoppng complexes or entertainment centres.

In addition, the embassy has registered 30,000 Filipinos working in Peninsular Malaysia as architects, in publishing, as video editors and musicians besides the traditional domestic help and hospitality sectors.

"We understand that quite a number even have jobs waiting for them in Sabah," said Lecaros.

"There are also so many cases of Filipinos failing to renew their passports after entering Sabah legally but they still continue to work with their employers until the authorities go on another round of campaign against illegal immigrants."

State lacks holding facilities

Meanwhile, the Philippines Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has been sending a team of eight officials to Sabah at intervals over the last five months to assist Filipinos to obtain valid travel papers.

Lecaros urged Filipinos who are stranded in Sabah without any valid travel papers to approach these officials instead of going into hiding and waiting for the crackdown against illegals to end.

The Philippines government itself estimates conservatively that 200,000 Filipinos are living and working in Malaysia without valid visas and nearly 3,000 are in jail waiting to be deported.

Indonesia, another major source of the illegals in Sabah, has consulates in Kota Kinabalu and Tawau which facilitate the speedy deportation of their nationals detained in Sabah for illegal entry and overstaying.

However, the Philippines has long balked at the idea of setting up a consulate in Sabah because of its longstanding territorial claim to the eastern and northern third of the state "after the transfer of suzerainty from the Sultanate of Sulu to the republic of the Philippines."

The territorial claim drives a belief that Filipino illegals in Sabah are actually not illegals and "have every right to be there" and if they are deported, "there's no reason why Manila should hurry up the deportation process."

Sabah does not have the holding facilities at its detention centres in Menggatal in Kota Kinabalu, Kota Belud, Sandakan and Tawau to take in too many detainees at any one time. There have been complaints that the prisons are overcrowded and lock-ups at police stations can’t be limited to the illegals alone.

Apparently, the detention centres are inspected on a regular basis by Philippine Embasy officials from Kuala Lumpur and officials from the Indonesian consulates in Kota Kinabalu and Tawau.

Deportation is a process which also requires the consent of the receiving country of the deportee.

It is known that the Philippines will not accept back its nationals unless it can be proven conclusively that they are, or still are, citizens of the Republic of the Philippines. This can be a difficult and time-consuming process if the illegals have been away from the Philippines, with or without documents for more than 10 years, and are therefore deemed to be stateless.

It is not known how many "stateless" Philippine citizens are languishing in the detention centres in Sabah.