THE NORTH BORNEO (SABAH) QUESTION

At the Senate in 1966: Rookie Senator Jovito Salonga confers with veteran legislator, Lorenzo Tañada. 1966. Courtesy of Steve Salonga.

FIFTY YEARS AGO, on 30 March 1963, Senator Salonga, described by one of this Admin's closest friends (a public figure himself now deceased) as one of the extremely rare ethical leaders and political figures this country has ever produced, delivered an exquisite "Point-by-Point Reply to Senator Sumulong's Speech on the Philippines' North Borneo (Sabah) Claim".

Senator Sumulong, uncle of President Cory Aquino, had berated the Republic's claim to Sabah as invalid and had supported then Malaysia's position, even praising the record and vision of then Malaya/Malaysia leader and prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman instead of supporting the Philippine Sabah claim.

Senator Salonga, father of the Philippine Sabah claim, rose to the occasion and delivered a stinging rebuttal to what Defenders of the Philippine Sabah Claim describe as Senator Sumulong's unpatriotic -- almost treacherous, position.

INTRO: "Largely through the efforts of President Diosdado Macapagal, MaphHindo was bom, composed of Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia. How to settle the Sabah claim of the Philippines through peaceful means was one of the items in the Tokyo Maphilindo Summit of June 1964, which I attended as Legal Adviser to President Macapagal. It was agreed that the Sabah claim would be settled by peaceful means, but the "verbal understanding" between the Tungku and Macapagal regarding the elevation of the case to the International Court of Justice, was denied later by Malaysia." 

EXCERPTS: "Senator Sumulong has now found it proper and imperative, if we take him literally, to ventilate his views berating the merit and validity of the Republic's claim, accusing his own Government of gross ignorance and holding in unbelievable disdain the Philippine position on the British-sponsored Malaysia plan. He has chosen to assault the Philippine position at a time when his own Government, by virtue of the British request, may be said to be somewhat helpless in making, right in our own country, an adequate, fully-documented defense of the Philippine stand." 

.../.... 

"...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." ~~ Senator Jovito R Salonga  

To read the speech: Jovito R Salonga Journal

~~ Admin Adb, Defenders of the Philippine Sabah & Spratly Claims