http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/02/22/13/aquino-urged-pursue-sabah-claim Feb.

28, 2013

Aquino urged to pursue Sabah claim

by Jojo Malig, ABS-CBNnews.com
Posted at 02/22/2013 7:32 PM | Updated as of 02/23/2013 5:46 PM

Sultan's followers ignore Malaysia's Friday ultimatum

MANILA (UPDATED)- President Benigno Aquino should pursue the Philippines' claim on
Sabah, a former Cabinet official said Friday.

The Philippines has already filed a claim on Sabah before the International Court of Justice,
according to Amina Rasul, president of the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy (PCID).

She said the Sultanate of Sulu has a historical claim on Sabah, which was upheld in the 1939
ruling of Chief Justice C.F.C. Macaskie of the High Court of North Borneo.

"The Philippine Government should protect the proprietary rights of Sultan Jamalul Alam's
heirs," she said.

Citing the North Borneo High Court's ruling, she said the legal heirs on Sabah are Princess Hadji
Piandao, Princess Tarhata Kiram, Princess Sakinur-In Kiram, Mora Napsa, Sultan Esmail Kiram,
Datu Punjungan, Sitti Mariam, Sitti Jahara, and Sitti Rada.

"All the principal heirs have died. The rights of their heirs, most of whom are Filipino citizens,
must be protected by the Philippine government," said Rasul, a former Presidential adviser on
youth affairs and daughter of former Senator Santanina Rasul.

Last February 12, around 100 men led by Sulu Sultanate Crown Prince Agmuddin Kiram,
brother of Sultan Jamalul III, arrived in Lahad Datu, Sabah, Malaysia.

Kiram said they are reasserting their dominion over the contested territory to which the
Philippines has a dormant historical claim, acting on a royal decree from the Sultan, Sultan
Jamalul Kiram III.

They are now engaged in a standoff with Malaysian security forces.

Rasul said the Philippine government should create an inter-agency committee under the Office
of the President to address the Philippine claim to Sabah.

"Past Philippine administrations have attempted to address the Sabah claim but were unable to
reach a lasting and generally acceptable conclusion," she said.
"However, this must not discourage the stakeholders and peace advocates from pursuing an
inclusive, just and sustainable formula that will satisfy the concerns not just of the Philippine and
Malaysian governments but particularly of the Sulu Sultanate and the private heirs to Sabah," she
added.

Deputy Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte, in a text message to ABS-CBN News, said a
Palace team is now looking into the historical and legal context of the Sabah claim.

"This will be dealt with at the proper time and under the correct conditions, in a way that upholds
the national interest and does not jeopardize our relationship with our good neighbor," she said.

Valte added that the Aquino administration has been "working quietly" with the Malaysian
government and the Kiram family to peacefully resolve the standoff.

Gazmin: Sultanate could be right on Sabah

The Sultanate of Sulu may have basis for its claim on Sabah in Malaysia, Defense Secretary
Voltaire Gazmin said Friday.

He said Kuala Lumpur pays the sultanate around 5,000 ringgit as annual rent for the area.

"If you are being paid, you have a claim, isn't it? That is your basis there. Even without saying
anything, the fact (remains) that you are being paid. Meaning, what is the 5,000 ringgits for?" he
said.

However, Gazmin said he is against the use of violence to settle the issue.

"You can settle this (issue) before going there. In other words, the process leading to their
actions is apparently not right," the defense chief added.

He said Philippine military officials are in talks with their Malaysian counterparts to resolve the
issue.

He added the Philippine Navy deployed ships in Sulu Sea to set up a naval blockade and prevent
the situation from going bad to worse.

Sultan's followers won't leave Sabah

The Sultan of Sulu has reiterated an order to his followers not to leave Sabah despite a reported
ultimatum given by Malaysian authorities to leave the island Friday.

In a press conference Friday, members of the Kiram family said they plan to go to international
courts to defend their claim over Sabah.

The Kiram family also said they will not resort to violence.
"We wish to thank the president for looking into this problem on the claim to Sabah," Fatima
Kiram said.

"The long standing problem, the claim of our ancestral domain which is now the contending
issue between Malaysia and the Philippines," she added.

"In the Islamic spirit and in compliance of the teachings of Islam, the convenors and Muslim
communities in the Philippines, the constituency of his royal highness Jamalulu Kiram III are
calling for restraint on both sides in this standoff in order to de-esclate tension among brother
Muslims," she said. - with reports from ANC; Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News
 http://www.facebook.com/DEFENDERS.OF.SABAH.AND.SPRATLY/posts/533694399996380
Feb. 28, 2013

Adriano Solomon DEFENDERS OF THE PHILIPPINE SABAH & SPRATLY CLAIMS

Monday at 12:49am ·

 YUNG LOLO NI NOYNOY - SI SEN. SUMULONG - AY KAKAMPI NG MALAYSIA NUNG 1960s

AT NAGSABI PA SI SEN. SUMULONG NA WALANG KARAPATAN ANG PILIPINAS SA SABAH.
NASA LAHI TALAGA NINA NOYNOY ANG PAGIGING TRAYDOR--(Senator Sumulong in a
speech in the Senate on March 25, 1963, dissented strongly. He charged that the claim was
“tardily presented to the United Nations,”)--- In 1878, Gustavus Baron von Overbeck, consul
general of Austria in Hongkong, acting on behalf of an English merchant, Alfred Dent,
obtained from Jamalul
Alam, Sultan of Sulu, a lease of North Borneo at an annual rental of 5,000 Malayan dollars.
The contract of lease, dated in January, 1878, was drafted by Overbeck himself.

With this lease contract as his asset, Alfred Dent, organized and obtained a Royal Charter for
the British North Borneo Company, to which Dent transferred his rights under the lease
contract. In 1888, this company, by virtue of a contract with the British government, agreed
to make the “State of North Borneo” (notice how the leased property metamorphosed into a
“State”) a protectorate of the British Crown. Then in 1946, by another contract with the
British Government, the British North Borneo Company transferred to the British
Government all its rights so that “the Crown shall, from the day of transfer, have full
sovereign rights over and title to the territory of the State of North Borneo and that
thereupon said territory shall become part of His Majesty’s dominions.” On July 10, 1946,
the British Government annexed North Borneo or Sabah as a crown colony. Thus did the
lease to Alfred Dent metamorphosed into British sovereign rights.

The British claimed that the contract in favor of Alfred Dent was a “cession” and not a lease.
The document was in the Malay language, written in Arabian script. The word used in the
contract was “padjak.” British experts have translated the word to “cession” while an
American expert on the Malay language has said it meant “lease in perpetuity.” Aside from
the direct translation, other documents, letters and circumstances showed that the intent of
the Sultan was to grant only a lease with an annual rent.

On November 25, 1957, the late Muhammad Esmail Kiram, Sultan of Sulu, issued a
proclamation “declaring the termination of said lease in favor of Gustavus Baron de
Overbeck and Alfred Dent, their heirs and assigns, effective the 22nd day of January, 1958,
and from that date all the lands covered by the said lease shall be deemed restituted
henceforth to the Sultanate of Sulu.”

On February 5, 1962, the attorneys for the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu addressed a
communication to the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs regarding their claim of
proprietary rights over the North Borneo territory and their desire to have the territory
included as part of the national territory of the Republic of the Philippines. On April 24,
1962, the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu ceded sovereign rights over Sabah to the Philippine
government, and on September 12, 1962, they ceded all rights, proprietary, title, dominion
and sovereignty to the Republic of the Philippines. (This is a “done deal.”)

This last document, signed by the late Sultan Esmail Kiram, with the advice and authority of
his Council of Advisers (Ruma Bechara) ceded sovereign rights over Sabah to the Philippine
Government.

On the basis of the cession of sovereign rights to the Philippine Government, the House of
Representatives unanimously adopted on April 24, 1962 Resolution No. 321, filed by
Congressman Godofredo Ramos, urging the President of the Philippines (Macapagal) to take
the necessary steps for the recovery of Sabah “which appertains to the Philippines.” The
resolution said: “It is the sense of the House of Representatives that the claim to North
Borneo is legal and valid.”

Several years before, on April 28, 1950, the House of Representatives had already approved
Concurrent Resolution No. 42 (authored by Congressmen Macapagal, Rasul, Escarreal,
Cases, Tizon, Tolentino and Lacson) expressing “the sense of the Congress of the Philippines
that North Borneo belongs to the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu and the ultimate sovereignty of
the Republic of the Philippines and authorizing the President (Quirino) to conduct
negotiations for the restoration of such ownership and sovereign jurisdiction over said
territory.” This resolution, however, was not finally approved because of want of
concurrence on the part of the Senate.

In spite of the want of approval of Resolution No. 42 by the Senate, the Philippines, on
September 4, 1950 advised the British Government that a dispute regarding ownership and
sovereignty over North Borneo existed between the two countries.

With the approval of House Resolution No. 321 in 1962, the Government of the Philippines
took a more positive step. Upon instruction of President Macapagal, the Acting Secretary of
Foreign Affairs, Salvador P. Lopez, implemented the House Resolution and on June 22, 1962,
officially filed with the United Kingdom, through the British Ambassador in Manila, the
Philippine claim of sovereignty, jurisdiction and proprietary ownership over North Borneo
as successor-in-interest of the Sultan of Sulu.

President Macapagal restated the Philippine position in his State of the Nation message
when Congress opened on January 28, 1963:

“Contrary to allegations in some political quarters, this was not a precipitate action. We
have personally studied this claim over a period of years. While serving in the
Department of Foreign Affairs in 1946, upon a study of this claim in connection with our
successful negotiation for the reacquisition of the Turtle Islands, we advocated the filing of
this claim.

“In 1948, while serving in the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C., we went over the
claim with an American expert in Anglo-Saxon law in George Washington University who
sustained the view that this is a valid claim. When we served in the Congress of the
Philippines, we successfully authored and sponsored in 1950, a resolution for the filing of
this claim. Upon becoming President of the Philippines, acting on the conviction that this
was not only a valid claim but that its presentation was demanded by the national interest,
it became our inescapable duty to act on the bi-partisan resolution of the House of
Representatives on April 24, 1962, that the claim be filed now or never.
“The situation is that the Philippines not only has a valid and historic claim to North Borneo.
In addition, the pursuit of the claim is itself vital to our national security. x x x x”
(underscoring mine)

Senator Sumulong in a speech in the Senate on March 25, 1963, dissented strongly. He
charged that the claim was “tardily presented to the United Nations,” referring to Foreign
Secretary Pelaez’s presentation of the claim in his policy speech before the UN General
Assembly in its 1962 session. He pointed out that our claim did not specify the particular
portion of North Borneo covered by it. To avoid appearing as “attempting to colonize North
Borneo without any lawful or just cause,” Senator Sumulong suggested that the Philippine
Government inform the United Nations “that we are voluntarily relinquishing whatever
claims of sovereignty we may have to any portion of North Borneo.”

Congressman Salonga made a “point-by-point” reply to Senator Sumulong in a radio-TV talk

on March 30, 1963. After discussing the facts and legal issues, and insinuating partisanship
in the senator’s position, he concluded with the following words:

“__on such a fundamental question as this, it may be well for us to remember that political
considerations, bitterness and endless quiblings should stop at the water’s edge and that
the claim to North Borneo is not the claim of the President, nor of the Liberal Party, nor of
his administration, but a claim of the entire Republic, based on respect for the rule of law,
the sanctity of contractual obligations, the sacredness of facts, and the relentless logic of our
situation in this part of the world.”

After some hedging on the part of the British Government, talks were eventually held in
London from January 28 to February 1, 1963. The Philippine panel was composed of Vice-
President and Foreign Affairs Secretary Pelaez, as chairman, with the following members:
National Defense Secretary Macario Peralta, Justice Secretary Juan Liwag, Senator Raul
Manglapus, Congressmen Jovito Salonga and Godofredo Ramos, and Ambassador Eduardo
Quintero.

Vice-President Pelaez made a very strong presentation of the Philippine claim. After
reviewing the historical events and basis of our claim, he said:

“As Lord Earl Granville, the British Foreign Minister at the time, in his letter to the British
Minister at Madrid, Mr. Morier, dated January 7, 1882, explaining the character of the
Charter granted to the North Borneo Company, made unmistakably clear: ‘The British
Charter therefore differs essentially from the previous Charters granted by the Crown to the
East India Company
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/topstories/topstories/view/20070223-51200/CV_of_Jamalul_D Feb. 28,
2013

CV of Jamalul D. Kiram III

INQUIRER.net
First Posted 13:50:00 02/23/2007

Filed Under: Eleksyon 2007

BELOW is the resume of Sulu Sultan Jamalul D. Kiram III, who is running for the Senate
under the administration's TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More) Unity.

A podcast interview of Kiram with INQUIRER.net editors and reporters is available in the
site?s podcast section.

Name of Candidate: Jamalul D. Kiram III

Position Sought: Senator

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

- Forged the century ? old relationships between Sulu and China during the royal visit in
Dezhou, Shandong Province, PR China in September 1999 with 87 ? man entourage. The visit
concluded with the signing of the agreement between Hebei Province and the Sulu Sultanate
on agricultural technology exchange.

- Forged bilateral relationship between the Don Sasagawa Foundation of Japan and the Sultan
Jamalul Ahlam Foundation. Sultan Jamalul Ahlam was the recipient of various hospital
equipments from Japan which were in turn donated to the Sulu Provincial Hospital in 1992.

- Responsible for the release of the American and the German nationals from the captivity of
the lost command of the MNLF in 1984.
-
- Established livelihood programs in Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Palawan through the Sulu-Marine
and Seven Seas Corporations

PERSONAL DATA:

- Eldest son of the late Sultan Punjungan Kiram and Sharif Usna Dalus Strattan (both parents
are Sulu royalties)

- Direct lineage from the first Sultan of Sulu, Sultan Shariful Hashim from the Bano-Hashimite
tribe, the direct descendants of Prophet Mohammad (SWA)
- Member of the Ruma Betchara (Council of the Sultan) during the reign of his late uncle,
Sultan Esmail Kiram (1962-1974)

- Acted as ?Interim Sultan? during the absence of his father Sultan Punjungan Kiram while in
Sabah (1974- 1981)
- Rajah Muda (Crown Prince of the Sultanate of Sulu during the reign of his late father, Sultan
Punjungan Kiram from 1981-1984

- Proclaimed in 1984 as 33rd Sultan of Sulu and was crowned on June 15, 1986 in Jolo, Sulu

POSITIONS HELD:
- Program Director, DXSM, Jolo (1963-1969)
- Station Manager, DXSU, Jolo (1969-1971)
- Project Officer, DPWH, Jolo ( 1972-1974)
- Vice President and Corpoprate Treasurer Greenfields Golf and country Club(1974-1977)
- Board of Regent, Mindanao State University (1974-1976)
- President and Chairman of the Board, Sultan Jamalul Ahlam Foundation (1979 to present)
- Appointed Chairman of the Board, Seven Seas Corporation
- President and Chairman of the Board, Seven Seas Corporation
- President and Chairman of the Board Sulu Marine Corporation(1989-1993)
- President and Chairman of the Board Philippine Pencak Silat Association (PHILSILAT)
(1991-present)
- Executive Council Member, Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) (1996-2000)
- Supreme Regent, Philippine Islamic Council (1986-present)
- Chairman and President, Sulu Sabah Foundation (1993 to present)
- Appointed Member by the President of the Philippines on the joint Legislative and Executive
Advisory Council (LEDAC) on Sabah Claim (Dec. 16, 2000-June 31, 2004)
- Presidential Adviser on Muslim Royalties Concern (March 5, 2005 ? June 30, 2005)
- Executive Council Member, POC (Jan 1- present)
- Consultant to the President of the Philippines (June 1, 2005 to present)

PERSONAL BACKGROUND:

Age : 68 years old

Date of Birth : July 16, 1938

Place of Birth : Maimbung, Sulu

City Address : Blk 47 Lot 6 Maharlika Ave. cor. Mindanao Ave., Maharlika Village, Bicutan,
Taguig City

Provincial Adress: : Kasanyangan Village, Jolo, Sulu

Res. Telefax/ Cel No. : (632) 8375491 ? 09178427956

Email Adress : celia_kiram@yahoo.com

Name of Spouse : Dayang Hadja Fatima Celia H. Kiram

Office Address:
PHILSILAT, Football Dugout, Rizal Memorial
Sports Complex, Vito Cruz, Manila

Philippine Olympic Committee

3rd Floor, Philippine International Convention Center
CCP Comlex, Pasay City

Sultunate Secretariat Office

Units 1-3, 3rd Flr. Legazpi Tower 300
Roxas Blvd. cor. Vito Cruz, Manila

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND:
Elementary : Jolo Central Elementary School
(1946-1951)

High School : Sulu High School (1951-1955)

College : Notre Dame of Jolo

Pre-Law (1956-1958)

Bachelor of Law-Manuel Luis Quezon University (MLQU) 1964

AWARDS/CERTIFICATES RECEIVED:
- Citation Award for the released of the Japanese hostage in SUlu in 1986 from Pres. Fidel V.
Ramos then Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
- Senior Fellow, Royal Institute of Higher Education (Singapore)
- International Advisory Council Member, RIHED of Singapore
- Fellow, Royal Institute of Corporate Directors, Singapore
- Fellow, Royal Institute of Dato, Singapore
- Fellow, Royal Institute of Education, Singapore
- Fellow, Royal Institute of English, Singapore
- Fellow, Royal Institute of Educators, Singapore
- Fellow, Royal Institute of International Relations
- Fellow, Royal Institute of Lawyers, Singapore
- Fellow, Royal Institute of Management
- Fellow, Royal Institute of Legal Consultants
- Fellow, Royal Institute of Paralegal
- Fellow, Royal Institute of Public Administrators
- Fellow, Royal Institute of Legal Executives
http://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-inbox/former-diplomat-cautions-ph-playing-malaysia-hand-
034713899.html Feb. 27, 2013

Commentary
By Lauro L.Baja, Jr., VERA Files
The President has gone on TV appealing and at the same time chastising the Sultan of Sulu over
the standoff in Lahad Datu in Sabah.

President Aquino delivering speech on Sabah

The next few days will tell the wisdom of doing it in public. His statements and actions give the
unintended consequence of leaning on our own nationals over a foreign power. We may be
playing into Malaysia's hands who has been adopting a studied but cavalier attitude over the
standoff. They are exercising acts of “effectivités” over Sabah during this standoff by their
actions and even by their silence over our naive pronouncements.
“Effectivités” in a territorial dispute between countries gives weight to actual and continued
exercise of authority over a territory. This is the basis of the International Court of Justice ’s
2002 decision on the Ligatan Sipadan case where the court awarded the area to Malaysia over
Indonesia. Also the same principle in the case between Chile and Peru and between Nicaragua
and Guatemala.
The Sabah standoff should rouse the Philippine Rip van Winkle attitude towards our claim to the
area. It provides the country with a unique but sensitive opportunity to revisit our claim. If the
Philippines can deal with the situation with some diplomatic imagination and finesse it can
correct some missteps of the past which led to the current state of helplessness insofar as the
issue is concerned.
Those missteps include the abortive "peopling" of Sabah by Filipinos under the Marcos
administration which resulted in the Jabidah mnassacre. Also advocating and/or agreeing to a
United Nations referendum in Sabah in 1963 without adequate strategic preparations which
resulted in adverse outcome for the Philippines.
The solid legal foundation of our claim still exists.
In the transfer of sovereignty document which the Sultan of Sulu signed with the Philippine
government, it was expressly provided that the transfer shall be deemed voided if the Philippines
shall fail to pursue the claim. The sultan understandably feels he is now free to pursue the claim
himself.
The President should find an opportunity to convene the National Security Council to consider
the matter. The ramifications of the standoff have far reaching consequences and both the
legislative and judicial branches of the government have pronounced themselves on the issue.
As days pass, the confluence of events makes it imperative that the Philippines now define its
policy on Sabah. To continue putting the claim in the backburner is not a policy. This is an
illusion, a mirage.
Will it be in the national interest to pursue the claim to Sabah? Strong legal grounds still exist
although eroded by our statements and actions and inactions. If we do not pursue, then we lay to
waste previous international efforts in the UN, in the London and Bangkok talks, in the ICJ, in
the Manila Accord of 1963.
If we do not pursue, we may do violence to our own Constitution, to House Resolution No. 321
adopted on April 24, 1962 and to the Supreme Court decision upholding the validity of RA 5522
and declaring that the PH has title and dominion over Sabah.
To study (again!) the legal merits of the claim is to consign it to the backburner for the next fifty
years.
It is a sad commnetary on the Philippines if our own nationals should run to the UN because their
government cannot protect their rights. This is not the spectacle our country wants to portray to
the international community.
It is now urgent to cease to be "confused" and move and act decisively. Time to end the Kabuki
play on Sabah.
(The author is a veteran Philippine diplomat. He was the Philippine Permament Representative
to the United Nations (May 2003- Feb.2007). Prior to that, he was Foreign Affairs
Undersecretary for Policy.)
(VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is
Latin for “true.”)

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-inbox/sabah-133113500.html Feb. 27, 2013

What to do with Sabah

By VERA Files | The Inbox  –  Sat, Feb 23, 2013
 Email
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Sabah standoff

By JOSE APOLINARIO L. LOZADA JR., VERA Files

COMMENTARY
As the 300 followers of the Sultanate of Sulu remain holed up in Sabah, the Philippines has no
choice but to immediately act to prevent unwanted consequences that could lead to the
“suspension” of relations with Malaysia again or, worse, possible bloodshed.
One option: For President Benigno S. Aquino III to reconvene soonest the Bipartisan Executive-
Legislative Advisory Council on the Sabah Issue that then President Fidel V. Ramos created in
1993 but has lain dormant since the Arroyo administration.
Created days before Ramos’ historic visit to Malaysia in 1993, the council was already in the
thick of discussion with Malaysia on economic activities for the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu when
its work was stalled first by the 1998 elections and later by the ouster of then President Joseph
Estrada in 2001.
Historically, and without question, Sabah belongs to the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu.
But when the Philippines began pressing its claim on the North Borneo territory, bilateral
relations between the two ASEAN member countries went cold: Malaysia “suspended”
diplomatic relations with the Philippines in September 1968 and the Philippines responded in
kind. Diplomatic relations between the two countries resumed in December 1969, but they were
at best “chilly.”
Because of the chilly bilateral relations, Moro National Liberation Front chairman Nur Misuari
in late 1969 took up Malaysia on its offer to train the Southern Philippine rebels. He led 90
handpicked men to a training camp in West Malaysia, Pangkor Island in the State of Perak.
“There the men underwent more than one year training, including warfare, military history and
tactics, weapons, politics, communications, and self-descent from helicopters. Nur Misuari was
the leader of this first class of trainees, called the First Ninety, or F-1 for Freedom-1,” said Tom
Stem, author of Nur Misuari, An Authorized Biography.
The development led President Ferdinand Marcos to announce on Aug. 4, 1977 that “the
Philippines is taking definite steps to eliminate one of the burdens of ASEAN, the Philippine
claim to Sabah.”
In addition, on June 25, 1980, then Philippine Foreign Minister Arturo Tolentino informed the
ASEAN Foreign Ministers Conference in Kuala Lumpur that the Philippines’ claim to Sabah “is
closed.”
These declarations were, however, overshadowed by the security problems brought about by the
New People’s Army in the North and in the Visayas, and the MNLF in the South which the
government had to focus on. In 1986, relations between Manila and Kuala Lumpur stayed icy
despite the EDSA revolt that led to the ascension of President Corazon Aquino into power.
Relations thawed only when Ramos made his historic visit to Kuala Lumpur in late January of
1993. It was the first visit of a sitting Philippine president to Malaysia.
On Jan. 11, 1993, prior to his decision to visit Malaysia, Ramos issued Executive Order 46
establishing the Bipartisan Executive-Legislative Advisory Council on the Sabah Issue. As
Presidential Adviser on Foreign Affairs, I was designated officer in charge of the council’s
secretariat.
A few days later, Ramos announced he was going to Malaysia to undertake his first “official”
visit from Jan. 27-30. This despite having gotten no official invitation from Malaysian Prime
Minister Mohamad Mahathir. All Ramos had was a private invitation from the Malaysian King
and the Malaysian Parliament.
After he was received by the King, Ramos was informed that Mahathir had agreed to meet him
privately. Mahathir was accompanied by his private secretary while I accompanied Ramos.
It was at this meeting that Ramos delivered his famous icebreaker. Shaking Mahathir’s hand, he
said, “Let’s put all our problems in the backburner and move forward as brothers.”
Mahathir agreed and personally invited Ramos to stay in Kuala Lumpur and the rest of Malaysia
for the next three days.
The three days produced a memorandum of understanding on the Joint Commission on the
Bilateral Cooperation finally signed in July 1993, Border Crossing Agreement and Joint Patrol
signed in 1996 and the establishment of the Malaysian Consulate in Davao in December 1995.
After Ramos’ visit to Malaysia, the Bipartisan Executive-Legislative Advisory Council on Sabah
first met in February 1993. It agreed to quietly work with the Malaysians to uplift the economic
conditions of the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu by establishing a semi-private corporation to engage
in any economic and trading arrangements that would financially upgrade the lives of the heirs.
To jumpstart the economic activities for the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu, a validated list of heirs
first had to be created. Thus, from mid-1993 to 1996, the council tediously examined, validated
and revalidated documents and other historical proofs that would confirm who among the so
many claimants were the direct real heirs of the Sultan of Sulu.
The validation process took much longer and a semifinal list was finally drawn in 1997.
In mid-1997, the proposed corporation’s by-laws had also been finalized, and the council was all
set to submit the documents to Ramos and Mahathir for approval. However, the campaign fever
for the 1998 national elections overtook events.
In July 1999, one year after he became president, Estrada issued Executive Order 117
reconstituting the Bipartisan Executive-Legislative Advisory Council on the Sabah Issue.
However, little would happen during the short-lived Estrada administration.
When President Gloria Arroyo took over, I turned over to then Secretary of National Defense
and later Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita all the records of the Bipartisan Executive-
Legislative Advisory Council on the Sabah Issue and briefed him on what had been
accomplished by the council so far and what could still be further done.
It is worth noting that during Ramos’ time, when the council was actively meeting and busy
evaluating the documents and personalities of the claimants, the Malaysian embassy in Manila
was properly informed of developments on the council’s working progress.
When the issue on the capitalization of the proposed corporation came up, the Malaysian
embassy had been authorized by Kuala Lumpur to assure the council that whatever amount
would be decided upon by the council, the Malaysian government was willing to sit down with it
and work out arrangements to provide the sum.
If and when reconvened, the Bipartisan Executive-Legislative Advisory Council on the Sabah
Issue can take up from where it left off more than a decade ago.
The council should be mandated to restart a thorough legal, political, financial, historical and
strategic study on the Sabah issue. It should focus on the definition of the territorial extent of the
Philippine claim, the legal position on the status of the Sultanate of Sulu, and the financial
implications to the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu.
(A retired career diplomat, Jose Apolinario L. "Jun" Lozada, Jr. served as presidential adviser
for foreign affairs to President Fidel V. Ramos. As member of the House of Representatives,
1998-2004, he was chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Relations. He is now
consultant in the Office of the Vice President.)
(VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. VERA is
Latin for “true.”)

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-inbox/aquino-adviser-sabah-issue-152748744.html Feb.
27, 2013

Who is Aquino’s adviser on Sabah issue?

By Ellen Tordesillas, Contributor | The Inbox  –  17 hours ago
 Email
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President Aquino delivering speech on Sabah

By Ellen Tordesillas
In his Facebook wall, Cotabato-based Fr. Eliseo Mercado of the Institute for Autonomy and
Governance in Notre Dame University yesterday said, “After the President’s press statement on
the Sabah issue, I am continued to be deluged with question,’Who is the adviser of the President
on the Sabah issue?’
“Sagot ko: Ambot… baka ang Malaysian PM. From the tone and the content would show that
he/she is either Malaysian or Malaysian-Philippine.”
In his statement, which came on the second week of the standoff in Lahad Datu, a seaside village
in Sabah, President Aquino several times spoke of peace. Yet, the language he used reeks of
arrogance that could only come from ignorance of the root of the issue.
He described the cause that the Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III and his younger brother Prince
Rajah Mudah Agbimuddin Kiram, who is the leader of the group in Lahad Datu as a “hopeless
cause.”
Addressing Kiram, Aquino said: “You are a leader of your clan, and every leader seeks the well-
being of his constituents. These times require you to use your influence to prevail on our
countrymen to desist from this hopeless cause.”
Does this mean the Aquino government has given up the Philippine government’s claim on
Sabah?
In his statement, Aquino seemed not sure about the legitimacy of the Philippine claim which was
initiated in the 1963 by President Diosdado Macapagal. He said: “This issue is complex: from
the basis of our claim, to the question of the rightful heirs, and even involving the translation of
documents from an era when our grandparents weren’t even born.”
Princess Jacel Kiram reads statement of her father, Jamalul Kiram III
Responding to the President’s statement Kiram III, though his daughter Princess Jacel Kiram
said: “ Mr. President, what more proof do you want us to show that Sabah is ours?”
This standoff came about because the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu decided to do it their way after
Malacañang snubbed Kiram’s request for a meeting.
Aquino revealed this in his statement: “Let me say to Sultan Jamalul Kiram III: I have just been
made aware that a letter to me, from you, was sent through OPAPP in the very first weeks of my
term, when we were organizing the government. Unfortunately, this letter was lost in the
bureaucratic maze. Let me make clear that there was no intention to ignore your letter. Knowing
this now, will you let your mistaken belief dictate your course of action?”
Aquino also said, “The avenue of peaceful and open dialogue is still available to us. Let us
therefore sit down as brothers to address your grievances in a peaceful, calm manner according
to our laws and according to correct processes when your people arrive home.”
Yet in the same statement he warned Kiram that his patience is running out:
“As President and chief executor of our laws, I have tasked an investigation into possible
violations of laws by you, your followers, and collaborators engaged in this foolhardy act. May I
remind you as well that as a citizen of the Republic, you are bound by the constitution and its
laws.
“Among your possible violations is Article II Section 2 of the Constitution, which states that the
Philippines renounces war as an instrument of national policy, the enabling law of which is
Article 118 of the Revised Penal Code, which punishes those who “provoke or give occasion for
a war…or expose Filipino citizens to reprisals on their persons or property.”[1] Thus, you are
now fully aware of the consequences of your actions.”
“We have not yet reached the point of no return, but we are fast approaching that point.”
To which Kiram stood firm: “As far as we are concerned, we haven’t committed a crime.”
But he also talked about peace: “The sultan of Sulu’s action is a benevolent aspiration and not a
violent reaction to fight.”
Will the real diplomats please take over?
http://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-inbox/bizarre-standoff-sabah-155440308.html Feb.
27, 2013

‘ Bizarre’ standoff in Sabah

By Ellen Tordesillas, Contributor | The Inbox  –  Tue, Feb 19, 2013
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Commentary

By Ellen Tordesillas
One report described the current standoff in Sabah as “bizarre”.
Bizarre indeed. The Philippines claims ownership of Sabah based on the title of the Sultan of
Sulu on the territory. The heirs of Sultan of Sulu who obtained the land are taking possession of
a portion of the area. The Philippine government said it has nothing to with the action of the
heirs.
The reaction of the Philippine government is bizarre if one takes it from the presumption that the
Philippines is not abandoning its claim over Sabah.
But if there’s one thing that this “bizarre” incident has made clear, the Philippines is no longer
interested to pursue its claim over Sabah.
The state of Sabah, with an area of 76,115 square kilometers, is the second largest member of the
Federation of Malaysia. Of the more than 600,000 Filipinos in Malaysia, majority are in Sabah,
most of them undocumented.
The Philippines claims ownership of Sabah based on the title of the Sultan of Sulu. Historical
records state that in 1704, North Borneo, which includes Sabah, was given to the Sultan of Sulu
by the Sultan of Brunei for helping him quell a rebellion.
In 1878, the Sultan of Sulu leased the territory to the British North Borneo Company. It was
included when the Federation of Malaysia was formed in 1963.
The Philippine government, then under President Diosdado Macapagal brought the issue to the
United Nations. In an UN-supervised referendum in 1963, majority of the people of Sabah
preferred to be part of Malaysia.
But when Ferdinand Marcos became president, he tried to “retake” Sabah through Operation
Merdeka which failed.
Relations between the Philippines and Malaysia became strained and only “normalized” during
the administration of Fidel Ramos, who signed an agreement during a state visit to establish a
consulate in Kota Kinabalu to take care of the numerous Filipinos in Sabah.
Ramos, however, was warned by his legal advisers that establishing a consulate in Sabah, which
was eagerly encouraged by Malaysian officials, was tantamount to dropping the Sabah claim,
which would violate the Constitution.
A consulate is established by a government only in a foreign country, not in its own territory.
Earlier, then Sen. Leticia Shahani filed a bil defining the Philippine baselines which didn’t
mention Sabah. Shahani didn’t pursue the bill after it was widely criticized as an attempt to drop
the Sabah claim.
The 2009 Philippine Baseline Law does not include Sabah but the Department of Foreign Affairs
said “its non-inclusion in the country’s baseline does not mean dropping the Philippine claim on
Sabah because it is reiterated in the new law that it does not prejudice the country’s claim to
Sabah. “
Under the Estrada administration, another irritant with Malaysia arose when President Estrada
received the wife of the detained Malaysia’s former Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim during his
state visit.
The idea of setting up a consulate in Kota Kinabalu was revived during the Arroyo
administration, which enlisted the help of Malaysia in brokering talks with the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front. But like what happened during the Ramos administration the Sabah consulate
idea fizzled out.
Reports said the armed supporters of Jamalul Kiram III, the current Sultan of Sulu started
arriving in the seaside village of Tanduao in Lahad Datu in Sabah Feb. 12. That was also the
time that Moro National Liberation Front forces were shooting it out with Abu Sayaff and the
military just shrugged it off. Bizarre.
Kiram was quoted in news reports as saying that he was prompted to send the group to Sabah
after his Sultanate was left out in the framework of agreement being worked out by the
government with the MILF which would establish an autonomous Muslim area in Mindanao.
Malacanang said it is not condoning what the Kiram group is doing in asserting their claim over
Sabah. Palace spokespersons described the Philippine claim on Sabah as “dormant.”
Like a dormant volcano, it could wake up from its slumber and explode.
Hoping and praying that this Sabah issue is handled intelligently and doesn’t go beyond
“bizarre.”

09484900193

1. http://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-inbox/bizarre-standoff-sabah-155440308.html
Feb. 27, 2013
2. http://www.facebook.com/DEFENDERS.OF.SABAH.AND.SPRATLY/posts/533694399996380
Feb. 28, 2013

3. http://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-inbox/sabah-133113500.html Feb. 27, 2013

4. http://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-inbox/aquino-adviser-sabah-issue-152748744.html
Feb. 27, 2013