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The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) told a House of Representatives panel on Tuesday, Aug. 13, that the Philippines’ sovereign claim over Sabah was still being maintained.

“Yes, our claim still stands,” DFA Secretary Enrique Manalo said during the deliberations of the agency's 2025 budget at the House Committee on Appropriations.

Manalo explained that despite agency’s focus on asserting the country’s claim over the West Philippine Sea (WPS), the DFA is still “very much looking at the issue”, referring to Sabah.

“Well, at the moment, we have discussed this matter with the other country involved. The understanding there is we’ll see how can we maintain lines of communication,” he said.

Lanao del Norte 1st district Rep. Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo, who brought up this concern in the panel, notes that diplomacy is the best way to engage when it comes to Sabah, particularly with the Malaysian counterparts.

“Kung maingay, may problema tayo. Kung tahimik, walang problema tayo (If there's noise, we have a problem. If it's quiet, we don't have a problem),” said Dimaporo.

Based on DFA estimates, there are about 770,000 Filipinos residing in Sabah.

According to Dimaporo, one of the main concerns of Filipinos living there is the DFA’s supposed inability to provide its consular services.

In response, DFA Undersecretary Eduardo De Vega pointed out that the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur regularly sends consular missions to Sabah to serve the needs of Filipinos there such as for the renewal of their passports.

“Usually they go there, once a quarter or once every four months. And if need be, we will ask them to go more often,” added De Vega.

Dimaporo, meanwhile, said that the DFA should consider working with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to make the agency’s services more accessible.

He cited the possibility of setting up a DFA office in the province of Tawi-Tawi, which is east of Sabah.

Located south of Philippines' Mindanao region and north of Malaysia's Borneo island, Sabah has long been a contentious issue between the two neighboring nations.

The Philippines’ claim is anchored on the assertion that it is the successor state of the former Sultanate of Sulu. The country maintains that the agreement with the British North Borneo Company in 1878 was merely a lease and not a transfer of sovereignty.

Meanwhile, Malaysia insists that the payments to the British North Borneo Company were actually installments to purchase the territory from Sulu.