Aquino factor

Amending the Constitution, which was raised in the Duterte administration’s campaign for a shift to a federal system of government, is also necessary for the country to effectively pursue its Sabah claim.

Last week, a French arbitral court ruled that Malaysia must compensate the heirs of the Sulu Sultan $14.92 billion, or P746 billion to satisfy an 1878 agreement signed among Sulu Sultan Jamal Al Alam, Baron de Overbeck and the British North Borneo Company’s Alfred Dent.

The decision was silent about the dispute over territory.

In a recently televised senatorial debate, Deputy Speaker Rodante Marcoleta said the Philippine Constitution of 1987 removed a phrase that honors historical right in its “territorial provision,” which in effect removed the basis for the claim.

Marcoleta was pointing to Article 1 of the Constitution, which was drafted and ratified under the term of the late President Cory Aquino, which omitted keywords that provided the basis for including in Philippine territory areas belonging to it by historic right and title.

The Sabah claim was enshrined in the 1973 Constitution, but was totally deleted in the 1987 Constitution. This gives rise to questions about the intimacy between the Aquinos and Malaysia. When the Cory Constitution was drafted, Mahathir Mohamad was Prime Minister.

The removal of the constitutional provision also prevented the country from fully benefiting from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on its claims on Sabah and the West Philippine Sea.

Cory’s son, the late President Noynoy Aquino, also showed utter disinterest regarding the Sabah claim, which was particularly shown in his actions in the 2013 Lahad Datu incursion of the followers of the Sultanate.

Noynoy merely toed the line of then Prime Minister Najib Razak in responding to the crisis.

The crisis ended with Noynoy telling, short of ordering, the followers of the Sultanate to surrender unconditionally, which was the same demand of Razak on what he called then as Sabah invaders.

All of the Palace briefings of Noynoy also contained the Malaysian line, including his asking Sultan Jamalul Kiram’s followers to retreat from Sabah while imposing a deadline.

There was nothing said about asking Malaysia to assure the safety of the subjects of the Sultanate and the estimated 800,000 Filipinos who reside in Sabah who were then in danger of a Malaysian backlash. The Sulu Sultan then said, through his spokesman, that the Sabah adventure would have not been launched had Noynoy consulted them on the process of forming the Bangsamoro region.

One of the grudges of the Sultan was the token rent being paid by Malaysia for the oil-rich territory, which was a greatly depreciated amount the British government paid the Sultanate two centuries before.

The two yellow Presidents through their actions greatly weakened the country’s pursuit of its historic claim.

It would be the responsibility of the next leader to seriously address the Sabah issue in light of the international tribunal’s ruling, which favors the Sultanate and ultimately the Philippines.

“It

would be the responsibility of the next leader to seriously address the Sabah issue in light of the international tribunal’s ruling.

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The Sabah claim was enshrined in the 1973 Constitution, but was totally deleted in the 1987 Constitution.