DFA chief Locsin: Sabah is ours and we want it

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Thursday stood firm on his position that Sabah belongs to the Philippines as he faced the Senate for the agency's 2021 budget.

During the hearing on the Department of Foreign Affairs' proposed P21.96 billion budget, Locsin was asked about the administration's foreign policy regarding Sabah which is both being claimed by the Philippines and Malaysia.

He said there are ongoing political movements in Sabah and in nearby areas and added that "we may have to adjust to that but for now it's ours and we want it."

Locsin reiterated that the Sabah issue has been put in the backburner during the Aquino administration but he has now made his position clear.

"That incident on just a casual mention of what's our claim, I think I slapped them back hard enough for them to realize to be careful... People will start taking on a realistic view that we are not a country to be ignored," he said.

Locsin's Twitter post asserting the country's ownership of Sabah last July prompted the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to summon the Philippine ambassador to Malaysia.

In turn, Locsin replied that he is also summoning the Malaysian ambassador

During the same Senate hearing, Senator Richard Gordon asked about the DFA's action on reports that Filipinos are being maltreated in Sabah.

He said he already gave instructions to the Philippine Ambassador in Kuala Lumpur.

"I instructed my diplomats not to be comfortable with the host country... The more you are disliked, then probably the better the job you're doing. For as long as our people are maltreated in any country then I expect my diplomats to be real jerks in that host country," Locsin said.

Gordon agreed with the DFA chief's tough stance.

"We can have our self-respect as a nation as we are assertive and not afraid to say our views and are not afraid to protect our people when they are being mistreated anywhere in the world including that part of the Philippines called Sabah," the senator said.

Sabah, located on the island of Borneo just south of Mindanao, has long been the subject of a territorial dispute between the Philippines and Malaysia.

The heirs of the Sultan of Sulu claim that the original Filipino sultan controlled the territory for centuries.

It was in 1963, however, that the United Nations recognized Sabah as part of Malaysia.—AOL, GMA News