Is it true that the Philippines had some land in northern Malaysia before?

by Revolution3299

So, basically from what I've heard, some Filipino datus sold some land to Malaysia. Is it true that the Philippines actually had the land in northern Malaysia?

KippyPowers

Well, yes, but this is before the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia existed as countries. Before colonialism, these were just various kingdoms, not “Filipinos”, “Malaysians”, and “Indonesians”. The Sultanate of Sulu is and historically was based on the island of Sulu, in the modern Philippines. The sultanate was never conquered by Spain and it did in fact possess what is now Sabah, Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. In fact, in the past, the modern Philippine government had made claims on Borneo because of this historical possession, and still technically actively claims this. The sultanate supposedly only leased the territory in 1878 but never got it back, hence the claim of the modern Philippine government. Sulu waned in power and was finally defeated by the Americans in the early 1910s, essentially one of the final hold outs in the Philippines from the American invasion.