A YouTube video bore a clickbait thumbnail and headline saying President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos reclaimed Sabah during his state visit to Malaysia. This is not true. The territorial claim over Sabah was not on the agenda of Marcos’ three-day official visit last month.
Posted on July 28, the video featured a photo of Marcos juxtaposed with a photo of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. It bore the text:
“Binawi ang Sabah. Ito ang pinaka-antay ng lahat. Tinapos nani (sic) PBBM (Reclaimed Sabah. This is what everyone is waiting for. PBBM finished it).”
This photo of Marcos in its thumbnail was edited to look like he is holding a document that showed a map with Sabah written on it. The photo was taken during another event in Manila last June 8.
The 18-minute and 37-second video bore the headline:
“SAWAKAS! PRES MARCOS GINIMBAL ang MALAYSIA BABAWIIN ang SABAH? PBBM at HARI ng MALAYSIA NAG-USAP NA (FINALLY! PRES MARCOS SHOCKED MALAYSIA WILL RECLAIM SABAH? PBBM AND KING OF MALAYSIA ALREADY TALKED)!”
This is false. Marcos’ recent trip to Malaysia had nothing to do with the Sabah claim, although the president himself said in a July 27 interview that the territorial dispute was mentioned during his meetings with Malaysian leaders. But it is something that cannot be resolved right away, he added.
“Lagi namang mababanggit ‘yun eh. Hindi mo maiiwasan. Meron naman talaga tayong outstanding claim na hindi natin binabawi (It will always be mentioned. You cannot avoid that. We really have an outstanding claim that we are not withdrawing). It’s clear to all the parties involved na hindi naman mai-dedecide ‘yan ngayon (that it cannot be decided right now),” the president explained.
With both countries not withdrawing, Marcos said talks revolved around other “things that are solvable” and the issue will be revisited “when the time comes.” The leaders discussed trade, investments as well as Malaysia’s help in the development of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
At the start of the video, a narrator only talked about the Malaysian government welcoming Marcos and netizens’ comments on the Sabah reclamation. The rest of the video played RTV Malacañang clips of the July 26 state banquet in Malaysia. Both Marcos and Malaysia’s King Al-Sultan Abdullah did not mention the Sabah dispute in their speeches.
VERA Files Fact Check debunked a similar claim about Marcos reclaiming Sabah in August 2022. (Read Bongbong Marcos has NOT reclaimed Sabah from Malaysia)
In 1878, Sulu Sultan Jamalul Alam Kiram leased Sabah to the British North Borneo Co. for 5,000 Malaysian dollars a year. While the Philippine government and the sultan’s descendants maintain that the agreement was merely a lease, the British viewed it as cession of territory.
Sabah became a British Crown colony in 1946 before it was transferred to the newly formed Federation of Malaysia in 1963.
Malaysia continued paying the Sulu heirs about US$1,000 monthly but stopped in 2013, which led the heirs to file a suit. In August 2022, a French court ruled against Malaysia and instructed them to pay the $14.9-billion lease to the Sulu heirs. Just last June, a Dutch court rejected the heirs’ request to impose the arbitration award against the Malaysian government in the Netherlands.
YouTube channel PINAS NEWS INSIDER’s (created on Dec. 26, 2015) video has 89,763 views as of writing and was also shared on Facebook. VERA Files Fact Check previously debunked other claims posted by this channel. (Read Supreme Court, NOT Sandiganbayan, dismissed Marcos ill-gotten wealth case)
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