Dear Sir,
There simply is no truth in your assertion that the Philippines has any sort of claim on North Borneo or Sabah. Kindly read the below:
Madrid Protocols
As attested to by the International Court of Justice, the Sultan of Sulu relinquished the sovereign rights over all his possessions in favour of Spain, based on the "Bases of Peace and Capitulation" signed by the Sultan of Sulu and the crown of Spain in Jolo on 22 July 1878.(11) (12) (13) (14) (15)
The Sultan stayed on as ruler in protectorate status.(16)
In 1885, Great Britain, Germany, and Spain signed the Madrid Protocol to cement Spanish influence over the islands of the Philippines. In the same agreement, Spain relinquished all claims to North Borneo which had belonged to the Sultanate in the past in favour of Great Britain.(17)
The Spanish Government renounces, as far as regards the British Government, all claims of sovereignty over the territories of the continent of Borneo, which belong, or which have belonged in the past to the Sultan of Sulu (Jolo), and which comprise the neighbouring islands of Balambangan, Banguey, and Malawali, as well as all those comprised within a zone of three maritime leagues from the coast, and which form part of the territories administered by the Company styled the "British North Borneo Company".
— as stated in "Article III, Madrid Protocol of 1885"
The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties defines a treaty as "an international agreement concluded between States in written form and governed by international law, whether embodied in a single instrument or in two or more related instruments and whatever its particular designation." (1)
Treaties can be referred to by a number of different names: international conventions, international agreements, covenants, final acts, charters, memorandums of understandings (MOUs), protocols, pacts, accords, and constitutions for international organizations. Usually these different names have no legal significance in international law (see next section for the difference in U.S. law). Treaties may be bilateral (two parties) or multilateral (between several parties) and a treaty is usually only binding on the parties to the agreement. An agreement "enters into force" when the terms for entry into force as specified in the agreement are met. Bilateral treaties usually enter into force when both parties agree to be bound as of a certain date.(1)
In 1761, The East India Company concluded a treaty with the Sultan of Sulu. The following year, an English Fleet, under Admiral Drake and Sir William Daper captured Manila, the Capital of Spanish colony of the Philippines. They found in confinement there a Sultan of Sulu who, in gratitude for his release, ceded to the company, on the 12th September 1762, the island of Balambangan, and in January of the following year, Mr.Dalrymple was deputed to take possession of it and hoist the British flag.
Towards the close of 1763, the Sultan of Sulu added to his cession the northern portion of Borneo and the Southern half of Palawan, together with all the intermediate islands.
Against all these cession, the Spanish entered their protest. Spanish claimed the suzerainty over the Sulu Archipelago and the Sulu Dependencies in Borneo and the islands. This claim the Spaniards always persisted in, until on the 7th March 1885, a Protocol was entered into by England, Germany and Spain whereby Spanish supremacy over the Sulu Archipelago was recognised on condition of their abandoning all claims to the portions of the Northern Borneo which are now included in the British North Borneo Company's Concessions.
I will also explain to you what you obviously do not understand about the agreement signed between the British and the Sultan of Sulu and Sultan of Brunei that allowed the North Borneo Company to take over North Borneo.
The 1878 agreement was written in the Jawi script, in which the following pargraph is stated:
".....sudah kuredhai pajakan dengan keredhaan dan kesukaan kita sendiri kepada tuan Gustavus Baron von Overbeck yang tinggal dalam negeri Hong Kong dan kepada Alfred Dent Esquire yang tinggal dalam negeri London... sampai selama-lamanya sekalian perintah dan kuasa yang kita punya yang takluk kepada kita di tanah besar Pulau Borneo dari Sungai Pandasan di sebelah barat sampai sepanjang semua tanah di pantai sebelah timur sejauh Sungai Sibuku di sebelah selatan. (2)
The keyword in the agreement is the "ambiguous" term "pajakan," a malay word. However, the British used the interpretation of the word was "grant and cede". (3) (4) (5) (6)
It CAN be argued "pajakan" means "mortgage" or "pawn" or even "wholesale" and not so much "lease" as per the contemporary meaning of "pajakan" in Sulu and Malay, which essentially means that the land is pawned in perpetuity for the annual cession money, and the sultanate would need to repay the ENTIRE infinite value of the territory to redeem it back if the British ever agreed to even sell it back to them. There is no further details on what those terms are or would be if the Sultan of Sulu ever wanted to purchase back his claim on North Borneo in the agreement and this agreement is considered by historians as akin to a "sale and purchase agreement" of land. (7) (8)
Furthermore, the term "selama-lama" which means "forever" or "in perpetuity" indicate a binding effect beyond the lifetime of the then Sultan and that the supposed territory is now considered SOLD which rules out any claims of a mortgage or even a time lease for the territory to have ever been leased in the first place.
The ambiguity led to the different interpretation of the original Malay text, as shown in two versions below:
British version
"...hereby grant and cede of our own free and sovereign will to Gustavus Baron de Overbeck of Hong Kong and Alfred Dent Esquire of London...and assigns for ever and in perpetuity all the rights and powers belonging to us over all the territories and lands being tritutary to us on the mainland of the island of Borneo commencing from the Pandassan River on the north-west coast and extending along the whole east coast as far as the Sibuco River in the south..."(3)
Sulu version
"..do hereby lease of our own freewill and satisfaction to...all the territories and lands being tributary to [us] together with their heirs, associates, successors and assigns forever and until the end of time, all rights and powers which we possess over all territories and lads tributary to us on the mainland of the Island of Borneo, commencing from the Pandassan River on the west coast to Maludu Bay, and extending along the whole east coast as far as Sibuco River on the south..."(9)
Throughout the British administration of North Borneo, the British government continued to make the annual "cession money" payment to the Sultan and its heir and these payments were expressly shown in the receipts as "cession money". (10)
In a 1961 conference in London, during which a Philippine and British panel met to discuss on the Philippine claim of North Borneo, the British panel informed the Congressman Salonga that the wording of the receipts has not been challenged by the Sultan or its heir. (10)
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| Avtar Þórr Singh (Sejarah North Borneo/ Sabah Moderator) |
So, now looking at the greater scheme of things, what exactly are you claiming? There simply is no claim the Philippines can ever make on North Borneo nor Sabah. Whatever "rights" both parties think they have on Sabah ended when the Sultan of Sulu gave away North Borneo not ONCE, not TWICE but THREE TIMES in 3 different agreements or treaties signed.
Who gave the western powers the right to do as they pleased in North Borneo? Very simple. Both the Sultan of Brunei and Sultan of Sulu did by signing the agreements they did which ENDED any further claims they may have had on North Borneo in the future.
I hope this EXTENSIVE explanation ends this issue once and for all.
Thank you. References are below for you to read for further clarification and understanding.
References:
(1)-Duke University.
Source: https://law.duke.edu/ilrt/treaties_2.htm
(2)-Hamdan Aziz (2016). "Tuntutan Kesultanan Sulu terhadap Sabah: Soroton dari Perspektif Sejarah dan Perundangan (The Claim Over Sabah by the Sultanate of Sulu: A Revision from Historical and Legal Perspective)" (PDF). Jurnal Antarabangsa Dunia Melayu (in Malay). 9: 284–285 – via Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
(3)- British Government (1878). "British North Borneo Treaties. (British North Borneo, 1878)" (PDF). Sabah State Government (State Attorney-General's Chambers). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 September 2015.
(4)-Najeeb Mitry Saleeby (1908). The History of Sulu. Ethnological Survey for Philippine Islands (Illustrated ed.). Bureau of Printing, Harvard University. pp. 225–233. OCLC 3550427.
(5)-Maxwell, Willian George & Gibson, Willian Summer (1998). Treaties and Engagements Affecting the Malay States and Borneo. J. Truscott & Son, Limited. p. 205.
(6)- "1878 Grant of Lease by the Sultan of Sulu to Britain: Profession Conklin Translation vis a vis Maxwell and Gibson Translation". Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines.
(7)-Mohamed Ariff (1991). The Muslim Private Sector in Southeast Asia: Islam and the Economic Development of Southeast Asia. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. pp. 30–. ISBN 978-981-3016-09-5.
(8)-K.J. Allison (1979). "English Pilipino Sama Sibutu', BASIC VOCABULARY" (PDF). SUMMER INSTITUTE OF LINGUISTICS-Philippines, Inc., TRANSLATORS. p. 59.
(9)-"Translation by Professor Conklin of the Deed of 1878 in Arabic characters found by Mr. Quintero in Washington (Philippine Claim to North Borneo)". Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines
(10)- "Philippine Claim to North Borneo, Volume 2". Bureau of Printing. 1967.
(11)-International Court of Justice (2003). Summaries of Judgments, Advisory Opinions, and Orders of the International Court of Justice, 1997-2002. United Nations Publications. pp. 268–. ISBN 978-92-1-133541-5.
(12)-"Protocol between Spain and Sulu confirming the Bases of Peace and Capitulation etc., signed at Jolo". Oxford Historical Treaties. 22 July 1878
(13)-Case Concerning of Sovereignty of Pulau Ligitan and Pulau Sipadan (Indonesia/Malaysia) [Memorial of Malaysia]" (PDF). International Court of Justice. 2 November 1999.
(14)-Raymond Tombung (8 March 2013). "Sabah claim: A tale of two versions". Free Malaysia Today. Archived from the original on 3 October 2016.
(15)-The last treaty between the Sultanate of Sulu and Spain, the Treaty of July 1878". Kahimyang. 21 July 2013.
(16)-British Government (1885). "British North Borneo Treaties. (British North Borneo, 1885)" (PDF). Sabah State Government (State Attorney-General's Chambers). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 October 2013
Source: Sejarah North Borneo / Sabah
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