Chenille B.

Masangya | 2010-00107 | BS Industrial Engineering

Number of Words: 2476
Title: The Plight of the Filipino Halaws in Mindanao
I.

Introduction

a.) Understanding the Halaws

In Malay Bahasa, Halaw literally means to drive away, cast away, to eject, or to throw
away. In Zamboanga, Halaws are the undocumented or stateless Filipinos who are deported
from Malaysia. In the early 80s, Halaw was used to describe persons whose heads were shaved to
identify them as those who are deported from the port of Sendakan in Malaysia1 .
Due to the proximity of Zamboanga to its southern neighbor Malaysia, international
migration has permeated that included labor migration, refugees, and undocumented migrants.
Economic opportunities especially in Sabah have continuously lured Filipino southerners to
Malaysia2. Sabah, a boat ride away from Bongao in Tawi-Tawi, contributes 23 percent of
Malaysias Gross National Product (GNP). More than 80 percent of the 1,669 hectares have
been developed for the industries of wood, rubber products, food, metal, plastics, ceramic, and
automotive parts. These industries have lured many Muslims from Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, and Basilan
as well as other parts of Mindanao to take on jobs they would not find in the region amid the
uprisings and disorganization that continue to afflict some areas.

Vera Files. Halaw: What happens now to the children of Sabah?. Retrieved from http://verafiles.org/halawwhat-happens-now-to-the-children-of-sabah/
2
Philippine Institute for Development Studies. Case Study of Zamboanga City (Forced Migration Area), 2004,
pp.11-17.

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b.) Problem- Stateless Children

Most of the Filipino workers from Mindanao arrive in Sendakan, the second largest city in
Sabah, with no papers or identity cards and move onward to find work through a network of
kinship and easily mix in with the local residents. Most go to Sabah in their twenties and start
receiving 400 to 600 ringgits (P5,000 to P8,000) a month with two free meals a day as they work
for plantations, factories or restaurants and hotels.
Since their ancestors used to move from Bongao and Jolo port with no worries about legal
papers or border crossing, many continue to believe what has been culturally ingrained in them
that Sabah is part of the Sultanate of Sulu.
While they learn Bahasa for work, among themselves they speak Tausug or Sama and,
intermittently, Tagalog.
In the island and the network of Filipinos in the community, they marry among themselves,
bear children and fail to go through the trouble of the mundane task of birth registration
leaving their children stateless with no passports and no rights to their basic requirements such
as basic health and education1. Moreover, without the proper exit documents, there are huge
circumstances of exposing themselves to the risk of trafficking.
Because the inclusion of Sabah in Malaysia is still contested by the Philippines, the Philippine
government has refused to establish a consulate in the area, as this may be construed as a waiver
of the claim on Sabah. Consequently, this results in the lack of protection to Filipino migrants
afforded by the presence of an embassy or consulate.
II.

Body/Related Literature Review

a.) The Case of Halaws
Since the 1990s, the Malaysians have viewed the growing number of Indonesians and
Filipinos in the islands as a risk to employment opportunities and business market for
Malaysians. Thus, Malaysian government enforced strict rules regarding immigrants found to
be lacking in proper documents and those considered as illegal immigrants are loaded on
boats toward the quayside in Zamboanga and are called Halaw1.
While the proximity of Malaysia seems to be the main reason why it is the most common
target destination for imported labor sourced from ZAMBASULTA (Zamboanga, Basilan,
Sulu, Tawi-Tawi), two other reasons were pointed out by Dr. Cabarabas and Dr. Fernandez
in their book Halaw: The Travails of Filipino Deportees from Malaysia on the subject.
The first was the earlier mentioned political turmoil in the area, particularly in the 70s which
led to the displacement of different communities and the separation of many individuals
from their livelihood. The second reason was the high demand for human resources due to
the growth of the developing industries in what was then newly-independent Malaysia. The
latter factor, in particular, contributed to the eventual legalization of importation of foreign
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laborers, with immigrants coming from all over Southeast Asia to take advantage of the
situation.
b.) Push and Pull Factors of Migration to Malaysia Leading to Human Trafficking
We didnt have enough money to buy food. We were always short of cash, especially
for my childrens needs. We didnt even have enough for our everyday expenses. I couldnt
give the things my children wanted (Selma, Filipina woman) (ILO, 2009). Although it can
be said that the reasons which lead one to migrate for work differ from one person to
another, there are often common push factors found in the conditions and environments
of those who eventually decide to do so which contribute to their making that choice, and
common pull factors that lure them to a particular destination3.
Poverty remains to be the major push factor in trafficking. In the face of unemployment,
underemployment and the absence of better-paying jobs in the country, people see working
abroad as a necessity in order to survive and uplift the living conditions of their families.
(Sta. Maria, Zantua, Chiongson, n.d.) The corresponding pull to povertys push is the
prospect of a higher paying job in another country. There is also the existing market for jobs
and services that are not met by the locals of said country, either because they do not want
these jobs or because of a shortage of local workers. Legalized prostitution or a policy
tolerating it in the destination country is also a strong pull factor for traffickers to recruit for
prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation (Porio, 1999)3.
In the case of trafficked children, needless to say, family dynamics play a major role. As
early as ten years old, some children already take on the role of breadwinner for various
reasons, such as being pushed by their relatives to work to assuage financial burdens.
Oftentimes, children work not only to fend for themselves but for their siblings as well
(ACTs, 2009). Some of the relatives who recruit the children have genuinely good intentions
but the prospect of earning money takes precedence over the state of the childs working
conditions and their education, which leads to the failure of relatives to ascertain the
legitimacy of the work the child is involved in. (Sta. Maria, Zantua, Chiongson, n.d.).
Children may also be driven away from home and towards being trafficked because of
violence in the family. For instance, ILO reports the case of a girl-child who was physically
beaten by her father and brothers, left her home, and lived in the streets of Quiapo. Later
on, she got involved with a syndicate. Another girl was abandoned by her father, and when
left with an aunt, was sold as a prostitute (ILO, 2007). Some children find it hard to go back
to their families after being rescued from trafficking as they fear the violence and treatment
that they will again experience upon returning home, which leads to a relapse into the
trafficking cycle (Sta. Maria, Zantua, Chiongson, n.d.)3.
At the community level, trafficked children who come from poor areas in Visayas and
Mindanao are usually convinced (if not forced) into working in urbanized areas in Luzon,
drawn by the belief (theirs or their relatives) that a better life lies ahead. Traffickers are also
pulled more towards targeting children because they are easily convinced into lying as they
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are instructed to avoid having any encounter with strangers while in transit (Sta. Maria,
Zantua, Chiongson, n.d.). Their obedience, often due to vulnerability and being easily
intimidated, makes children particularly vulnerable to being trafficked as child soldiers.
Although most children are kidnapped, some join rebel forces voluntarily. They believe that
they are safer in joining these forces and have better access to food. Other factors would
also be lack of education and lack of job opportunities (Aronowitz, 2009). According to
Human Rights Watch reports, in proving their allegiance, those trafficked as child soldiers
are also forced to commit atrocities against family members and neighbors so that they will
be stigmatized and thus, unable to go back home (Aronowitz, 2009)3.
c.) Philippine Government Intervention
With the influx of legal immigrants also came illegal ones. The Malaysian authorities
reacted to this by setting up a system which attempted to control the burgeoning number of
illegal immigrants. The actions of the Malaysian government coupled with the more hostile
attitude locals began carrying towards immigrant workers led to the abuses that were
directed against the Halaws by Malaysian authorities (Cabaraban & Fernandez, 2005)3.
Less than two months after the information from the abuse reached the Philippines,
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued Administrative Order No. 40 dated October 1,
2002, creating special task Pagbabalik Tulong to address the problems posed by the
deportation of Filipino citizens from Sabah2. The special task force is composed of key
government agencies, whose assigned tasks included providing food assistance, water and
sanitation services, health and medical services, psychological services, transportation
assistance, provision of clothing and personal effects, documentation, and processing of
passports, among others (Cabaraban & Fernandez, 2005)3.
The Inter-Agency One-Stop-Shop was put up on September 9, 2002 at the Office of the
Civil Defense in Sta. Barbara, Zamboanga City. As agreed by the Task Force, the
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) acts as the universal registrant
of all deportees/returnees in coordination with the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation.
The Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC IX) coordinates and oversees the
implementation and monitoring of short-term emergency intervention of deportees2.

Ateneo Human Rights Center. Trafficking in Women and Children in ZAMBASULTA (2012), pp.13-15.

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While it is laudable that various services are offered to the Halaws and other deportees, it
has also been observed by some that such services to a certain extent have perpetuated the
practice of the Halaws; and encouraged, if not emboldened, other deportees to repeatedly
return to Sabah even without the proper documents. This is because when they are
deported, they are just brought to the DSWD Processing Center for Displaced Persons in
Zamboanga City. After being processed, they are transported back to their places of origin
without any kind of reprimand or warning not to travel to Malaysia illegally3.
d.) Humanitarian Crisis: Lahad Datu Standoff
The Lahad Datu standoff also sparked a humanitarian crisis after scores of Sabah
residents with Filipino ancestry were arrested and more than 1,500 migrant Filipinos
sought refuge in the Philippines. There are also allegations of human rights abuses
committed by the Malaysian security forces, a claim that was strongly denied by the Kuala
Lumpur government.
Indeed, the Sabah question is likely to pose problems for both Malaysia and the
Philippines for the foreseeable future. For instance, Carol Araullo of the left-leaning Bayan
coalition accuses Aquino of abandoning the Philippines claims over the territory:
Many are beginning to surmise that the Aquino regime is not all convinced that the Sabah claim
has merit and his description of it as a hopeless cause is not just a slip of the tongue indicating ignorance
or incompetence as Sultan Jamalul Kiram III suspects, but his regimes point of view and even policy on the
matter4.

Global Voices. Crisis in Sabah After Malaysias Standoff with Armed Filipinos. March 26, 2013. Retrieved from
https://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/03/26/crisis-in-sabah-after-malaysias-standoff-with-armed-filipinos/

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e.) Bayanihan for the Stateless Children

From Kota Kinabalu to Lahad Datu, Filipinos have pooled their resources to address the
problem of the lack of access to education of Filipino school-age children.
Informal learning facilities managed by Filipino community leaders have been set up.
They have put up makeshift classrooms, called for volunteer teachers, and continue to find
ways to go beyond the basic reading, writing and arithmetic classes they now provide.
The Philippine Embassy has even made arrangements with an Indonesian foundation
that operates in Lahad Datu. A number of the Filipino children go to these Indonesian
learning centers that are funded by the Indonesian government, follow the Indonesian
curriculum and are recognized by the Ministry of Education in Indonesia in view of the large
number of Indonesian workers in the plantation.
In Semporna, the nonprofit Humana Child Aid Society started operating alternative
learning centers in plantations in Lahad Datu in 1991. It provides basic informal education
that serves Indonesian and Filipino children, children of the Bajau Laut (an ethnic group of
Malay origin whose members have for centuries lived out their lives almost entirely at sea,
plying a tract of ocean between Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia), construction
workers, drivers and plantation workers. Of the 10,000 children in their schools, 1,500 are
Filipinos1.
III.

Conclusion
While the Aquino administration and the Kirams fight it out in the media, the glaring
truth is, many of those displaced by the standoff face more uncertainty.
Not exactly OFWs or overseas Filipino workers because they left using the backdoor
without registering with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration or the
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, the Halaw cannot qualify for emergency
assistance and face the difficult task of reintegration.
The National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) has set up emergency desks
that are expected to provide about P20,000 to 30,000 in financial assistance to families
arriving from Sabah but with no homes, no work and nowhere to go.
The uncertainty can be difficult to bear. And sooner or later, many of those who arrive
will find ways to go back to Sabah not only for work but because they have left family
behind in the mad dash for safety.
The children, on the other hand, while born to Filipino parents have never set foot in
Mindanao and, worse, are not even considered Filipino. Onsite birth registration centers
from National Statistics Office and an inter agency team from the Department of Social
Welfare and Development, Department of Education and the NCMF would be helpful to
assess their emotional, health and educational needs.
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Already, talks abound that an emergency Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program where
conditional cash transfers will be provided to those arriving from Sabah is being put in place
by the DSWD. But with 400,000 irregulars coming from Malaysia, will this be a tenable
solution?
Beyond the registration and CCTs, government should look at facilities at the
Zamboanga, Bongao, and Sulu ports for health centers, shelter units and alternative learning
centers for these children and their families.
Moreover, multilateral organizations such as United Nations Childrens Fund, United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration
would best look at their portfolios to look at realigning their 2013 budgets toward becoming
more responsive to this vulnerable groups needs.
With the numbers expected to increase as the standoff continues, local government units
at the receiving end of newly arrived, displaced Filipinos should also be assisted in improving
their capacities to address the increasing needs of their new constituency1.
IV.

References

Class Readings
Gaay Fortman, B. (2006). Poverty as a Failure of Entitlement: Do Rights-Based Approaches make
Sense?, In L. Williams (ed.), International Poverty Law: An Emerging Discourse. London:
Zed, pp.34-48.
Yuval Davis, N. (1997). Women, Citizenship, and Difference, Feminist Reviews, 57 (Autumn):
4-27.
Publications
Somers Margaret R. (2008). Genealogies of Citizenship.
Women and Conflict. (2011, January). Trafficking in Persons in Internally Displaced People Camps in
Mindanao. PH: MMCEAI
Research Paper
Ateneo Human Rights Center (2012). Trafficking in Women and Children in Zamboanga, Basilan,
Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi (ZAMBASULTA)
Barrios-Fabian, Ma. Luisa D. (2004, December). Case Study of Zamboanga City (Forced Migration Area).
Kohkl, Abe. (2010, April). Overview of Statelessness: International and Japanese Context.

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Online Sources
Global Voices. (2013, March 26). Crisis in Sabah after Malaysias standoff with armed Filipinos. Retrieved
from the Global Voices website: https://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/03/26/crisis-in-sabah-aftermalaysias-standoff-with-armed-filipinos/
Vera Files. (2013, March 11). Halaw: What happens now to the children of Sabah? Retrieved from the Vera
Files website: http://verafiles.org/halaw-what-happens-now-to-the-children-of-sabah/
Video
Di Ambang: Stateless in Sabah. Retrieved from the wordpress website:
http://selvarajasomiah.wordpress.com/2013/12/10/di-ambang-stateless-in-sabah-support-the-firstever-feature-documentary-on-stateless-filipinos-in-sabah/

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