Dennis Gaviola

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Carmelle Lacuata

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<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17407382444371740738291801.jpeg" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="According to NHCP, none of the Philippines’ neighbors claim sovereignty over Philippine territory over “baseless and inaccessible historical fiction”. NHCP handout photo"/>According to NHCP, none of the Philippines’ neighbors claim sovereignty over Philippine territory over “baseless and inaccessible historical fiction”. NHCP handout photo</div>MANILA — The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) on Friday disputed claims made on Chinese social media platforms over the jurisdiction and ownership of Palawan Island.In a statement, NHCP said there has been a recent post circulating on Chinese social media platforms like Weibo and Rednote, claiming that the island of Palawan used to belong to China, and was claimed and governed by the Philippines.“In the contested claim, Palawan island was called &#x27;Zheng He Island&#x27; after the famous Chinese explorer and seafarer who travelled the seas and oceans of Asia from the 1300s to the 1400s,” the NHCP said.“It is necessary to note that exploration does not equate to sovereign ownership,” the NHCP added, noting there is no existing evidence to support the settlement of a permanent Chinese population in Palawan.The NHCP also said there are no accounts of Chinese settlement seen in available documents, as early as 1521, through the accounts of Antonio Pigafetta who was part of the Magellan’s expedition, and the first circumnavigation of the world.“Palawan was populated by communities of similar cultural affinity with the rest of our archipelago. The head of the expedition had, in fact, made a blood compact with the chief of the community that the NHCP recognized to be in the present day Sitio Tagusao, Brooke’s Point, Palawan,” it explained.“This does not, however, preclude the existence of trade relations as our ancestors have, as we are at present, been trading with our neighbors for millennia,” the NHCP added.The NHCP, the national agency mandated to promoting the country’s history, likewise said historical maps from various European cartographers from the 1500s to the 1800s “recognized the inclusion of Palawan Island in the Philippine archipelago as administered by the Sultanate of Sulu and the Spanish Captain-Generalcy of the Philippines.”“Later, the 1898 Treaty of Paris, amended by the 1900 Treaty of Washington, clearly defined the areas that would become our republic’s territory in the present day,” it added.According to the NHCP, none of the Philippines’ neighbors claim sovereignty over Philippine territory over “baseless and inaccessible historical fiction”, considering the early Filipino polities’ close connection to sultanates and rajahnates in other parts of Southeast Asia.“Neither does vassalage by a predecessor nation equate to sovereign rule in the present day. Early Filipino polities in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao were, at one point or another, closely connected to sultanates and rajahnates in other parts of Southeast Asia. However, our neighbors do not claim sovereignty over Philippine territory over baseless and inaccessible historical fiction,” it said.“The historical fact clearly and convincingly shows that the Philippines and its predecessor state actors have always exercised sovereignty over our archipelago and over Palawan in particular. No other state contests this fact. Not one. This has been accepted by the international community for more than a century,” NHCP added.NHCP reiterated the Philippine government’s policy that it will not give up sovereignty over the country’s territory.“The NHCP stands by the policy of the rest of the Philippine Government that not one inch of Filipino sovereign territory is for sale, nor can any be claimed by states that purport to be our friends yet continue to undermine regional stability through the reprehensible use of questionable historical data,” it said.“Palawan is and will always be Filipino,” the NHCP added.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/5/31/marcos-jr-reiterates-commitment-to-protecting-ph-sovereignty-2241">‘Filipinos do not yield’: Marcos Jr. reiterates commitment to protecting PH sovereignty</a></div><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/2/6/marcos-jr-says-committed-to-defend-country-s-rights-in-west-ph-sea-1957">Marcos Jr. says committed to defend country&#x27;s rights in West PH Sea</a></div>

The National Historical Commission of the Philippines on Friday disputed recent claims made on Chinese social media platforms over the jurisdiction and ownership of Palawan Island.

The National Historical Commission of the Philippines on Friday disputed recent claims made on Chinese social media platforms over the jurisdiction and ownership of Palawan Island.

Zheng He Island? NHCP disputes Chinese claims over Palawan

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Zheng He Island? NHCP disputes Chinese claims over Palawan

Rose Carmelle Lacuata,

ABS-CBN News

Published February 28, 2025 06:25 PM PHT

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Palawan

National Historical Commission of the Philippines

China

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