A state is a community of persons, more or less numerous, permanently occupying a

fixed territory and possessed of an independent government organized for political ends to which
the great body of inhabitants render habitual obedience. It involves four important elements,
namely, people, territory, sovereignty and government. That being the case, the Bajau/Bajao,
also called Sama-Bajau or Sea Nomads/Sea Gypsies, can they be called a state although they
scattered along the coastal areas of Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, Basilan, and some coastal municipalities of
Zamboanga del Sur in the ARMM?

As early as 15th century, the Bajau moved around freely in the Sulu Zone – the area
around Sulu Sea and Celebes Sea – until the concept of national borders came into being. Many
chose to stay on land in the emerging nation-states, while others roam free at sea. The immerging
issue from that is that those living on the houseboats have been inadvertently left out earlier
political and bureaucratic initiatives to process identification. In my view, the biggest issue on
hand would be the element People. Being the people, one must be a citizen or at least acquire
them, if you’re not, for him/her to be protected and be part of the bigger society in which they
live(in the sense, it is the Philippines) and to be able to acquire membership of allegiance, as the
definition of citizenship as membership in a political society, and implies the reciprocal
obligations as compensation for each other of a duty of allegiance on the part of members and a
duty on the duty on the part of the society. But the situation beforehand such as the case in
Zamboanga where ranging from 10,000 to 15,000 Sama Bajau are living, around 85% have no
birth certificates, which is the identification of themselves, of who they are and where they are
from in the sense of legality and evidence.

With that, even if one can say that they have been residing in that place for a long time,
one can say that they are aliens because of the fact that they don’t have citizenship. The next
issue that will definitely occur is their safety because there is no safeguard in law to grant them
nationality because of the fact that of their nomadic lifestyle and generations of non-registration
of birth. Therefore, the Bajaos are stateless, except for those who have their birth of registration.