Making the award count

“The Sabah question will be an international legal spectacle that the Philippine government should not miss being part of.

“Defaulting from a contract means under most legal conventions that the party at fault will have to compensate for the full amount of the agreement.

Considering the huge amount involved — $14.9 billion, or P745 billion thereabouts, which comprises the French arbitral award on the accrued benefits of the Sultanate of Sulu over Sabah — the debate has turned to the necessary next steps.

Former chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo indicated that whether or not the government gets a portion of the bonanza, it is bound, by its nature, to provide assistance to members of the Sulu heirs who are Filipino citizens.

A member of the royal family told the Daily Tribune that steps are being taken to reach out to the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for a unified Philippine position regarding the claim after the international recognition of the controversial 1878 agreement.

The 1878 contract among Sulu Sultan Jamal Al Alam, British government representative Baron de Overbeck and the British North Borneo Company’s Alfred Dent leased Sabah to the trading house for 5,000 Malayan dollars that was later on made to be worth 5,000 Malaysian ringgit, or about P63,200 a year.

The amount was insignificant, but its continued payment represented proof that Malaysia recognizes, through the years, that the Sultanate has proprietary right over Sabah similar to the recognition of an obligation of a tenant to a landlord.

International legal expert Harry Roque, also the spokesperson of former president Rodrigo Duterte, said the ruling indicated that Malaysia defaulted in the agreement.

Defaulting from a contract means under most legal conventions that the party at fault will have to compensate for the full amount of the agreement, including unearned benefits.

The award reached $14.9 billion because the court also computed the potential income had the territory been in the possession of the Sultanate since 1878.

Malaysia, however, claims that the amount being given to the Sultanate is cession money.

Whether its cession payment or a lease, the French arbitral tribunal ruled that Malaysia committed breach of contract by stopping the yearly compensation that was paid religiously until after the 2013 Lahad Datu incursion, in which 200 members of the so-called Sulu Royal Army, armed with machetes, landed in Lahad Datu to evict Malaysia from Sabah.

Predictably, the result was tragic against an overwhelming Malaysian security force.

The Philippine government has been trying to elude involvement in the aggressive act of the Sultanate, although it continues to assert the sovereign claim.

According to a high-ranking member of the Sultanate, a different approach through the legal channel was strategized, and it proved successful.

The catch is that the Sultanate considered the effort private after the Sultanate revoked during the term of President Fidel Ramos the assignment of the right to Sabah granted to the government in 1962.

The member of the royal family said that the government failed to meet certain provisions in the 1962 compact that resulted to its rescinding.

Malaysia said it will mount a determined effort to counter the arbitral decision that favored the Sultanate and the Philippines’ territorial claim in general.

The Sabah question will be an international legal spectacle that the Philippine government should not miss being part of.

Most of all, the chance to settle a thorny ancient irritant has presented itself to both Malaysia and the Philippines.