President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s new communications secretary delivered an impassioned speech about the need to fight for the country’s sovereign rights over the West Philippine Sea, but in the process touched on a sticky subject — the government’s claim over Sabah.
During a House investigation into online disinformation on Friday, March 21, Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Jay Ruiz lamented increasing polarization among Filipinos online, complicating the government’s efforts to communicate the West Philippine Sea issue to the public.
“I said never again that the Philippines will lose any part of our country just like what happened in Sabah. In the Sabah issue in the 1960s, Sabah was owned by the royal sultanate of Sulu for a long time, Malaysia was paying rent to the Philippines. We tried to get it and claim it as our own,” Ruiz said.
“But what did the Malaysians do to us? They pitted Filipinos against Filipinos. They supported a Muslim secessionist movement in the south, using religion and race against each other. Eventually, because they divided us and conquered part of our territory, we lost Sabah,” he added.
Was that a slip of the tongue?
Ruiz insisted that “it’s happening again,” with a “foreign actor using fake news to destroy each other.”
It’s interesting that Ruiz just casually said in public that the Philippines has already lost Sabah, although that is not the official position of the government.
The Philippines has not dropped its claim of sovereignty over Sabah, although the government has not touched upon the subject for years to keep harmonious ties with Malaysia.
When Marcos traveled to Malaysia for a three-day state visit in July 2023, he said that the Sabah issue was raised but not discussed at length.
The Philippines holds the belief that Sabah is merely on lease, based on an 1878 document signed by the Sultan of Sulu to the British, which at the time ruled Malaysia. The proof is in the fact that Malaysia made payments to the heirs of the sultanate for decades.
Malaysia, however, believes that the payments were tantamount to the cession of Sabah.
West PH Sea ‘fake news’
The series of tri-committee hearings, which began in February, was triggered partly by Surigao del Norte 2nd District Representative Ace Barbers’ privilege speech about the need to counter Chinese propaganda on the West Philippine Sea issue.
Ruiz on Friday suggested that existing laws such as the Cybercrime Prevention Act be strengthened, and that the framework of the European Union Digital Services Act be adopted, to counter the spread of disinformation online.
“It is a national security concern that we really have to fight not against each other, but collectively, we fight together. The fight against ‘fake news’ should be prioritized,” Ruiz said.
Friday’s hearing also underscored false information being circulated on social media platforms to undermine the Philippines’ claims over the West Philippine Sea.
1-Rider Representative Rodge Gutierrez shared as an example a post claiming that China has been ruling Palawan island for a thousand years.
Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela reminded Filipino content creators not to parrot baseless claims on the West Philippine Sea.
“It’s important for us to make the vloggers or social media influencers understand the limitation of freedom of speech, especially if it has something to do with national security concerns. Sometimes, it’s so easy for them to say that [on the] West Philippine Sea, we do not have basis, or that we are the ones escalating the tension,” Tarriela said.
TikTok public policy manager Peachy Paderna also denied that the social media giant is taking down journalists’ posts about the West Philippine Sea.
“We do not suppress any content that pertains to the West Philippine Sea. We welcome the diversity of political expression. What we can share is, if a video is muted, there is a possibility that the content may have committed a violation of our guidelines, specifically around intellectual property,” she said. – Rappler.com