The reported note verbale of the Philippines to the United Nations reviving its claim over the disputed territory of Sabah has already become “moot and academic” since the Sultanate of Sulu had long revoked its transfer of sovereignty over Sabah to the Philippines, according to documents obtained by DAILY TRIBUNE and a source on Monday.

A seven-page resolution signed by the late Sultan Jamalul Kiram III and the Ruma Bichara Council declared the 29 January 1962 transfer of sovereignty to the Philippine government null and void.

The resolution, dated 12 February 1989, and signed by the late Sultan Mohammad Jamalul Kiram III and direct descendants of the Sultanate in Jolo, Sulu, formally revoked the 1962 conditional transfer of title of sovereignty over Sabah to the Philippine government.

The resolution cited the Philippine government’s failure to fulfill its commitment to exhaust all means to recover Sabah.

“The August 29, 1972 transfer of the title of sovereignty of the Sultanate to the Republic of the Philippines is null and void and revoked by His Royal Highness Sultan Mohammad Jamalul Kiram III and the Ruma Bichara,” the resolution stated.

According to a TRIBUNE source, the non-inclusion of Sabah in the 1987 Constitution further triggered the revocation of the authority.

The source added that even during the Commonwealth era under President Manuel L. Quezon, the Philippine government did not assist the Sultanate in protecting its historic, proprietary, and sovereign rights over Sabah.

The Session Court of North Borneo (Sabah) had already upheld the proprietary rights of the heirs of the late Sultan Jamalul Kiram III long before Malaysia was established as a nation.

The court’s decision was among the documents submitted to an arbitral tribunal, which ruled that Malaysia must pay $14.92 billion to the heirs of the Sultanate.

In a judgment dated 11 October 1939, British Chief Justice C.F.C. Macaskie recognized the proprietary rights of Sultan Kiram’s rightful heirs and appointed Datu Punjaman Kiram as administrator of the estate of North Borneo (Sabah).

Datu Punjaman was later crowned as the 32nd Sultan of Sulu and North Borneo.

“The Macaskie judgment proves that even under British colonial rule, the Sultanate’s rights over Sabah were recognized—long before Malaysia gained independence,” the source said.

In addition to the Macaskie judgment, Malaysia signed an agreement with the Philippines and Indonesia stating that the inclusion of Sabah in the Malaysian Federation would not prejudice the Philippine claim over the territory.

According to the Manila Accord of 1963, the resolution of the Sabah claim would be pursued in an international court.

Among the signatories of the Manila Accord were Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak and then Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Emmanuel Pelaez.

The heirs claim to be successors-in-interest to the last Sultan of Sulu, who entered into an 1878 agreement with a British trading company for the exploitation of resources in his territory—including what is now the oil-rich Malaysian state of Sabah, at the northern tip of Borneo.

Malaysia took over the arrangement after gaining independence from Britain, paying a token annual sum to the heirs, who are Philippine nationals.

However, these payments were halted in 2013, with Malaysia arguing that no other party had rightful claims over Sabah, which it considers part of its sovereign territory.