10 The right of children to be enrolled in schools and, where possible, to access university scholarships in state institutions as well as the right to equal treatment 11 — The right to an adequate standard of living, food, housing, and medical needs, and to receive subsistence support not less than that granted to poor Filipino citizens The right of children to quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for adults The Philippine government created a Board to the Protection of the Refugees and Stateless Persons, on which its mandate includes: (1) to formulate and promulgate rules and regulations considered necessary to bring the provisions of the law into effect; (2) receive, examine and adjudicate applications to refugee or stateless status, as well as take action on applications to temporary protection measures; (3) to promote the initiatives relevant to the protection of refugees and stateless persons; (4) coordinate and cooperate with the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR); (5) Stateless status can be canceled under the Stateless Persons Act in case the individual gains citizenship or regains previous citizenship. On the other hand, statelessness can also be renegotiated based on the factual errors, or errors in law, recognition by fraud or misinformation, or even new facts to show that the person was not supposed to be considered stateless. The Supreme Court issued a rule in order to make it easier to obtain the Philippine citizenship and to streamline and minimize legal obstacles to the acquisition of the same, in addition to allowing the assimilation and naturalization of refugees and stateless persons. The principles that have been used in the application of these processes are as listed below; (1) The refugees and amorphous individuals will enjoy equal respect and dignity just like Filipino citizens without any discrimination along race, colour, sex, national background, political opinion, religion or physical or mental impairment; (2) The well-being of the families of the refugees and stateless people, especially the children, shall constantly be encouraged and preserved; (3) Children without the presence of individuals who are refugees and stateless will be attached to relevant governmental and/or non-governmental agencies to enjoy care, welfare and legal services including help in application of naturalisation. The Executive Order No. 163/2022 is an additional technical framework, which confirms that the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940 acknowledges the alienation of stateless immigrants and gives the President the power to admit aliens as refugees based on religious, political or racial grounds in a similar vein as other groups. In this regard, the Philippine Development Plan 20172022 will achieve the goal of creating a legal framework through which the protection of asylum seekers, refugees, and other stateless persons will be established, including the institutionalization of access to social services and the establishment of the positive protection environment in the Philippines. The rights of refugees, stateless persons and asylum seekers such as the right to security, freedom, liberty, freedom of movement, and minimum standard of treatment are observed and safeguarded by the national policy. Such norms include the delivery of socio-economic services, the right to social security benefits, the right to work full-time in a dignified manner, education, the right to take part in judicial and administrative citizenship, legal support, access to the courts, and the freedom of religion. Stateless Nations in the Legal Framework of Middle Eastern Countries Middle East is a part of the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region, which has a significant population of stateless citizens. State succession is the major cause of statelessness in MENA states. The citizenship regimes that are produced following independence of these countries have been highly influenced by the tensions in the region and in most cases a combination of factors results in statelessness. The majority of the countries in the MENA region do not have definite status-determination practices and the recognition of stateless individuals. Stateless people are therefore treated only within the provisions of the law that govern other non-nationals, such as ISSN 2776-1266 (print), 2776-1266 (online) Copyright © 2026, Journal of Public Representative and Society Provision Under the license CC BY-SA 4.0 | 190