Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. warned the United States Embassy in Manila of consequences unless it corrects an official statement shared on social media that wrongly referred to Sabah as part of Malaysia.
The Philippines has a historic claim over Sabah based on the ownership of the Sultan of Sulu over what used to be North Borneo. The government, however, has put the issue on the backburner for years now.
“Sabah is not in Malaysia if you want to have anything to do with the Philippines,” Locsin warned on Twitter on Monday night, retweeting what the US Embassy posted minutes earlier.
On its Twitter and Facebook pages, the US Embassy shared the news from the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
“@usaid_manila donated 500 hygiene kits to the @dswdservers Region IX “for use by returning Filipino repatriates from Sabah, Malaysia who arrived in Zamboanga City and Bongao, Tawi-Tawi,” the US Embassy tweeted, sharing an article and photos from the USAID.
“You better edit that announcement if you know what’s good for you,” Locsin said in another tweet in reaction to the US Embassy post.
The US Embassy did not respond to media queries, nor did it correct what it had posted, which remained on its Twitter and Facebook pages as of Tuesday night. INQ