According to historian and Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Constantino Jaraula (LDP), Sabah was once part of the Sultanate of Brunei and was given as a prize to the Sultan of Sulu in gratitude for the latter’s help in quelling a rebellion on Sabah in 1704.
The Sultan of Sulu sent 1,200 Tausog warriors to Sabah to fight side by side with the Sultan of Brunei’s warriors. Of the 1,200 warriors sent to the battlefield by the Sultan of Sabah, "only 600 returned alive and as a gesture of gratitude, the Sultan of Brunei yielded his rights over Sabah to the Sulu Sultanate," Jaraula said.
Jaraula, an international lawyer and author of several history books, said that on Jan. 22, 1878, Baron Gustavus de Overdeck, the Austrian consul in Hong Kong, and Alfred Dent formed the British North Borneo Co. that leased Sabah from the Sultanate of Sulu for 5,000 Malaysian dollars a year.
The company was granted the British Royal Charter on Nov. 1, 1881 and regularly paid the lease to the Sultanate of Sulu — a clear indication that they recognized the rights of ownership of the Sultanate of Sulu over Sabah, Jaraula said.
He added that political upheavals in Southeast Asia over the past few decades and other upheavals cause by the war in the Pacific during World War II have, however, blurred the issue of ownership of Sabah.
On July 10, 1946, just days before the Philippines was granted independence by the United States, the British government invoked its rights over the British North Borneo Co. and transferred the rights and assets of that company — including its lease of Sabah — to the British Crown.
Jaraula said the transfer of the British North Borneo Co.’s assets to the British Crown was protested by US special adviser to the Philippines Gov. Francis Harrison, who called the British Crown’s actions "an act of aggression" because of the Sultanate of Sulu’s ownership of Sabah. Harrison contended that the Sultanate of Sulu, then already part of the Philippine Republic, was never consulted on the matter.
In 1930, an interpleader suit was filed by Sulu Sultanate heir Dayang Dayang Hadjor Piadro before the North Borneo High Court to determine who will receive the lease payments for Sabah. High Court judge Macaskie ruled that the private heir and successor to the Sultan of Sulu is the Philippine government.
In 1950, congressmen Diosdado Macapagal, Arsenio Lacson and Arturo Tolentino filed a resolution in Congress urging the government to recover Sabah using international law and procedures.
Malaysia gained independence from the British Crown on Aug. 31, 1957. On Sept. 6, 1963, the federation of Malaysia was formed and composed of Malaya, Sarawak, Sabah and Singapore. Singapore later broke away from the Malasian federation and became a sovereign city-state.
When he assumed the presidency, Macapagal continued the serious effort to pursue the Philippine claim over Sabah. It was also during this time that the Philippines was signatory to the Manila Accord, along with Malaysia and Indonesia. The Manila Accord provides for the inclusion of Sabah in the Malaysian federal states, but does not preclude the Philippines’ claim over the area, Jaraula said. — With Jose Rodel Clapano