The Manila Accord, July 31, 1963

The The Manila Accord of July 31, 1963 is yet another “agreement” in a series of polemics that the land-grabbing Pinoys love to cite in support of their position to claim Sabah as part of their territory from Malaysia. The full text of the Accord can be viewed here. Of specific interest are paras 10 – 13 which deals specifically with the Sabah Question. Continue reading →

Map of Malaysia

malaysia-map

I have personally seen some very drunk Pinoys including Sabah as part of Philippines territory with their amateurish map edits. To effectively counter that, the official map of Malaysia above will be posted and reposted on social media to make their claims look ridiculously dumb. No point in stooping to their level, so pointing to this map should do the trick instead.

Leigh R. Wright, “Historical Notes on the North Borneo Dispute”

Leigh R. Wright in the journal article “Historical Notes on the North Borneo Dispute” published in The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 24, No 3 (May, 1966) made some rather interesting and salient points to the discussion. She notes that while the Sulu claim of sovereignty over North Borneo prior to the 1878 treaty with Baron Overbeck is open to dispute“The Philippine government has not produced, and it is doubtful if there is extant, a document by which Brunei granted North Borneo to Sulu. It is only the weight of Sulu tradition which sustains the Sulu claim to ownership of the area.” (Leigh R. Wright, ibid.), there is ample oral and written documentation which proves that Brunei held sway over North Borneo before it was even ceded to the British North Borneo Company. In fact, after the signing of treaties, “[f]ew people seriously questioned the British North Borneo Company’s rights of sovereignty until the Philippines pressed their claim in 1962. Most observers of the last and present century refer to the cession as complete.”Leigh R. Wright, ibid. In any case, she says, the effect of the Madrid Protocol of 1885 signed by Spain and Britain effectively demonstrates that Spain as the colonial power of the Philippines Islands had abandoned all claims that it may have over North Borneo.The British and Malaysian view…is that the Republic of the Philippines is the successor to the United States and Spain in the Philippine Islands. As Spain abandoned her claim to North Borneo in the protocol of 1885, and as a line of demarcation was agreed to by the United States and Britain in 1930, the Philippines could not possibly sustain a claim of sovereignty over North Borneo.” (ibid.) Continue reading →

Madrid Protocol of 1885 cedes all rights of the Sulu over Sabah

The Madrid Protocol of 1885 is an agreement between Great Britain, Germany and Spain to recognize the sovereignty of Spain over the Sulu Archipelago as well as the limit of Spanish influence in the region (Articles I and II). The most interesting point to note that under the agreement (specifically, Article III), Spain as the colonial power ruling the Philippines islands — including the Mindanao and Sulu areas — clearly relinquishes all claims to Borneo. Continue reading →