ZAMBOANGA CITY — A self-proclaimed granddaughter of Sultan Jamalul Alam — who signed a permanent lease agreement with Gustavus Baron de Overbeck and Alfred Dent, Esquire — recently called on the descendants of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo to unite in claiming the monetary award ruled by the French arbitral court recently in their favor.

A certain Queen Dayang Siha J. Astaluddin Mohammad Alam claimed on Sunday that all descendants of the Sulu and North Borneo Sultanate must unite and must have one voice and asked them not to compete among themselves on who is the nearest descendant to the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo just to gain publicity.

Queen Siha claimed she is the granddaughter of Alam who signed a permanent lease agreement to the territories allegedly owned by her grandfather in North Borneo (Sabah) on 22 January 1878.

According to Queen Siha, her grandfather signed a one-page document, written in the Malay language in Arabic characters.

The said document granted Gustavus Baron de Overbeck and Alfred Dent, Esq., and their company a permanent lease to the territories allegedly owned by her grandfather in northern Borneo, in consideration of a permanent payment of $5,000 Mexican dollars per annum.

A copy of the translated contract was shown to Daily Tribune, which can also be found on the Philippines' Official Gazette website.

The contract was signed and witnessed by Alejo Alvarez and Pedro Ortuoste and was attested and signed as a true transcript by a certain Tomas Aguirre on 16 July 1878 in Jolo, Sulu.

Siha also revealed that the sultan also signed on the same day another document investing the said Baron de Overbeck as Datu Bandahara and Raja of Sandakan, with full powers to govern the territories.

She stressed that it is high time now for the government to help them obtain what is due to them in order for them — the descendants to live above the poverty line.