Cession and transfer of the territory of North Borneo by His Highness, Sultan Mohammad Esmail Kiram, Sultan of Sulu, acting with the consent and aprroval of the Ruma Bechara, in council assembled, to the Republic of the Philippines

Cession and Transfer of the Territory of North Borneo by His Highness,

Sultan Mohammad Esmail Kiram, Sultan of Sulu, Acting with the

Consent and Aprroval of the Ruma Bechara, in Council Assembled,

to the Republic of the Philippines*

 

WHEREAS, for the last two hundred years or more the title of sovereignty and dominion over the Territory of North Borneo has been vested in the Sultanate of Sulu;

 

WHEREAS, Sultan Mohamet JamalAlAlam (or Sultan Jamalul Agham), then the head of the Sultanate of Sulu, signed a deed granting the lease of the Territory of North Borneo to Gustavus Baron de Overbeck and Alfred Dent, representatives of a British company, for a consideration of Five Thousand Dollars payable annually to him or to his heirs and successors;

 

WHEREAS, under and by virtue of the lease contract and the commission signed by the Sultan of Sulu, Sultan Mohamet Jamal Al Alam, appointing Baron de Overbeck and Alfred Dent and their successor, the British North Borneo company, merely derived leasehold right over the Territory of North Borneo and authority to administer the government of said Territory by delegation from the Sultan of Sulu;

 

WHEREAS, the title of sovereignty and dominion of the Sultan of Sulu over North Borneo has never been conveyed and it remained, and continues to remain, vested in the Sultan of Sulu;

 

WHEREAS, the title of the Sultanate of Sulu of the sovereignty and dominion over North Borneo has not been prejudiced by the assumption of United States jurisdiction over the Sulu Archipelago as evidenced by the Carpenter Agreement of March 22, 1915;

 

WHEREAS, the North Borneo Cession Order of the British Government of July 10, 1946 is a unilateral act of the British Government which cannot produce legal effects on the established title of sovereignty and dominion of the Sultanate of Sulu over the Territory of North Borneo;

 

WHEREAS, on November 25, 1957 His Highness, Sultan Mohammad Esmail Kiram, Sultan of Sulu, issued, in the exercise of his sovereign rights, a Proclamation declaring the lease of the Territory of North Borneo terminated as of January 22, 1958, and declaring further that after said date all the lands leased were deemed restituted to the Sultanate of Sulu;

 

WHEREAS, His Highness, Sultan Mohammad Esmail Kiram, Sultan of Sulu, acting with the expressed desire of the Ruma Bechara, has determined that the title of sovereignty and dominion over the said Territory of North Borneo should be ceded and transferred to the Republic of the Philippines.

 

NOW THESE PRESENTS WITNESS

 

The Territory of North Borneo, and the title of sovereignty and dominion over the said Territory are hereby ceded and transferred by His Highness, Sultan Mohammad Esmail Kiram, Sultan of Sulu, acting with the consent and approval of the Ruma Bechara, to the Republic of the Philippines.

 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, His Highness, Sultan Mohammad Esmail Kiram, Sultan of Sulu, on his own behalf, has signed the present Instrument of Cession and Transfer and has affixed the seal of the Sultanate of Sulu.

 

DONE at Manila, Philippines, this 24th day of April 1962.

 

(Signed)

SULTAN MOHAMMAD ESMAIL KIRAM

Sultan of Sulu

 

Footnote:

* From a copy provided by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Manila.

Source: The Philippine Claim to a Portion of North Borneo

This entry was posted in Historical Papers & Documents, Primary Sources of Historical Importance.

Published in the Philippine Official Gazette

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