MANILA: The Foreign Affairs Department yesterday urged all government agencies not to refer to Sabah as part of Malaysia due to the Philippines’ claim over the resource-rich territory now controlled by Malaysia.
Foreign Affairs Spokesman Raul Hernandez said the Memorandum Circular 162 issued by former president Gloria Arroyo in 2008 is an “existing regulation” and must be complied with by “all government departments and agencies”.
He said the presidential directive discourages government agencies “from referring to Sabah, home to 800,000 Filipinos, as being part of a larger national or federal territory” and for them not “to make any act or statement expressing or implying any recognition of a foreign state’s sovereignty over Sabah.” THE PHILIPPINE STAR
