Sulu execs' alleged plan to invade Sabah 'fake news, baloney' —Philippine officials

Philippine officials on Thursday dismissed the reported "secret" plan of mayors in Sulu province to invade Sabah by sending armed militia forces.

"I think disinformation lang yan. Wala. Our Intel would know. And they haven’t reported anything of that sort," Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told GMA News Online in a message.

For his part, Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año described the report as "baloney."

"That's baloney. There is no such thing and it will never be sanctioned by the government," he told GMA News Online in a separate text message.

Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya likewise said they have received no such information. "This report is fake news," he said.

Western Mindanao Command's public information office (PIO) chief Major Andrew Linao and Joint Task Force Sulu's PIO chief Lieutenant Jerrica Angela Manongdo said they have not received such information.

Citing a security source, South China Morning Post reported that 19 Sulu mayors held a secret meeting where they planned to recruit 600 men to invade Sabah.

A "senior local government official" in Mindanao supposedly held the meeting on December 1, as claimed by the senior regional security source.

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

Heirs of the Sultan of Sulu claim that the original Filipino sultan controlled the territory for centuries, but the United Nations in 1963 recognized Sabah as part of Malaysia.  —KBK, GMA News