PH revives Sabah claim in note to United Nations
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has reasserted its sovereignty over North Borneo (Sabah) in a communication to the United Nations secretary general, as it reaffirmed its claim to an extended continental shelf in the West Palawan Region.
In a March 19 note verbale to the UN secretary general, the Philippine Permanent Mission to the UN said Manila “has never relinquished its sovereignty over North Borneo.”
“As regards the statement of Malaysia concerning the title of the Republic of the Philippines’ claim to a portion of North Borneo, the Philippines recalls the agreement of the parties to the Manila Accord dated 31 July 1963,” the Philippine Mission to the UN said.
The Philippines, it added, “reiterates its commitment under the Accord to assert its North Borneo claim in accordance with international law and the principle of the pacific settlement of disputes.”
The diplomatic communication was issued in response to Malaysia’s note verbale in 2024, which opposed the Philippines’ submission to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.
Continental shelf
In its submission filed on June 14, 2024, the Philippines, invoking its rights under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), formally requested the UN body to extend its continental shelf in the West Philippine Sea, particularly in the western Palawan region.
Unclos defines a continental shelf as the submerged extension of a coastal state’s land territory, covering the seabed and subsoil beyond its territorial sea, up to the edge of its 370-kilometer (200-nautical-mile) exclusive economic zone.
Citing an analysis of collected data and information, the Philippines’ submission particularly said the country’s continental margin, or underwater land, extends more than 370 km from the coasts of Palawan and North Borneo due to the “geomorphological continuity between these landmasses and the outer edge of the continental margin” in the western Palawan region.
Malaysia’s permanent mission to the United Nations asserted Kuala Lumpur has never recognized Manila’s claim to Sabah. Its document dated June 27 stated: “The Government of Malaysia categorically rejects the Philippines’ Partial Submission on the basis that the Republic of the Philippines’ continental margin is projected from the baselines of the Malaysian state of Sabah.”
Timeline
Malaysia further urged the UN body “not to examine and qualify” the Philippines’ continental shelf claim.
A timeline of the events shows that in 1640, Spain, under a treaty entered into with the sultans of Sulu and Maguindanao, recognized the independence of the two sultanates.
In 1704, the sultan of Brunei ceded Sabah to the sultan of Sulu as a reward for helping suppress a revolt.
In 1878, the sultan of Sulu leased Sabah to the British North Borneo Co. in exchange for an annual payment.
However, disputes arose when payments stopped following Sultan Jamalul Kiram II’s death in 1936.
The Philippines formally staked its claim on Sabah in 1962 after the sultan’s heirs authorized the government to negotiate.
Then President Diosdado Macapagal filed a claim with the United Kingdom asserting the Philippines’ sovereignty, jurisdiction and ownership of North Borneo.
In 1963, Malaysia declared independence from the UK, and the British North Borneo Co. ceased payments when its rights to Sabah were transferred to the newly established Federation of Malaysia.
The new government, however, continued the rental payments in Malaysian ringgit.
At Macapagal’s initiative, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines signed the 1963 Manila Accord which stated that “the inclusion of North Borneo in the Federation of Malaysia would not prejudice either the claim or any right thereunder.”
Recent years
In February 2013, over 200 followers of the late self-proclaimed sultan of Sulu, Jamalul Kiram III, engaged Malaysian forces in a two-week battle to reclaim Sabah.
The group’s occupation of the coastal village of Tanduo in Lahad Datu town sparked a standoff with Malaysian security forces that erupted in violence on the morning of March 1, when a 30-minute shootout left two Malaysian police officers and 12 Filipino rebels dead. This was followed by an all-out military operation on March 5.
Ten years later, a Dutch court dismissed a claim by descendants of the former sultanate seeking to enforce on Malaysia a $15-billion award by a Paris arbitration court, saying the French ruling did not apply in the Netherlands.
