Philippines denies reports of secret plot to invade Malaysian territory

Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told reporters on Friday that reports of an invasion were “fake news.” (AFP/File)

MANILA: Philippine authorities on Friday denied international media reports claiming that hundreds of militiamen supported by officials from the southern Philippines were planning to invade the Malaysian state of Sabah.
Located on the northeastern tip of Borneo island, Sabah has been the subject of a 60-year-long territorial dispute between the Philippines and Malaysia.
International media reported on Thursday that a “secret meeting” attended by 19 mayors in the Sulu archipelago in the southwestern Philippines, some 400 kilometers from Sabah, planned to recruit 600 men to stage the invasion.
The news prompted Royal Malaysia Police Chief Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani to issue a statement saying they would take immediate action to “face any possibility or threat of intrusion,” and that the state’s security was “under control.”
Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told reporters on Friday that reports of an invasion were “fake news.”
Lt. Jerrica Angela Manongdo, spokesperson for the Philippine military in Sulu, said the media reports had “no basis.”
“We immediately looked into the matter when we learned of the news report. Based on the information we have gathered there is no such thing,” she told Arab News. “We don’t know what the motive behind (the reports) are.”
Manongdo added that local officials in Sulu had indeed held a meeting earlier this month, but only to discuss ways to strengthen the archipelago’s maritime borders and disaster response.
“Local chief executives (are) in charge of recruitment of fishermen or seafarer volunteers (to) conduct maritime patrols in collaboration with the military in Sulu to help improve border control against terrorists and any other lawless elements,” she said.
While Malaysia controls Sabah, the Philippines has laid claims over the state on the basis that the region, which was once ruled by the Sultanate of Sulu, was only leased — not ceded — to British colonial rulers before Malaysia’s independence.
In 2013, around 200 armed men from the Philippines who claimed to have been sent by members of the Sulu royal clan arrived by boat at Lahad Datu port in Sabah, triggering a deadly weeks-long battle with Malaysian security forces in which 71 people died, most of them Philippine militiamen.