Philippines: 7,107 islands?

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelago, a cluster or collection of islands. When ask of the number of islands it is composed of most would naturally answer 7,107 islands. But then again it would depend if its high tide or low tide since some islands would be under water when high tide having lesser number of islands.

The Philippine Constitution states that the national territory of the Philippines included, among other things, "all other areas which belong to the Philippines on the basis of historical rights or legal claims." In pursuant to this the Philippines has continued to assert there claims in a number of islands, regrettably so have other Asian nations causing international disputes.

One island in particular that the Philippines has encountered trouble reclaiming is Sabah, formerly known as North Borneo. Sabah is being claimed by both the Philippines and Malaysia. Today it has become on of the thirteen states that formed Malaysia in 1963.

Historically, the then Sultanate of Sulu leased the eastern part of Sabah to a Gustavus von Overbeck in return for modern weapons, to keep the Spanish colonizers away from Sulu, and an annual compensation to the Muslim dignitary a sum equivalent to 5,000 Malaysian dollars(ringgit). And further explicitly stating that the right to the territory may not be transferred to a nation or another company without the sultan expressed permission.

Through the years the territory ended in the control of Great Britain, or formerly known as the British Crown. The Philippines sent delegations to London to reminded them that the eastern part of Sabah belongs to the Philippines. But in the end the whole territory of Sabah was then claimed by Malaysia insisting that Sabah was under its sovereignty based on the fact of the agreements secured by Baron von Overbeck with the Sultanate. The British Crown renewed the lease but finally ceded it to Malaysia and it is still believed that Malaysia is paying the annual rent to the Sultan of Sulu. In effect Sabah is still within the control of Malaysia and the Philippines is still in the process of proving its claim.

Scarborough Shoal, more correctly described as a group of islands, atolls, and reefs than a shoal, is another territory that is being claimed not only by the Philippines but also by People's  Republic of China. The People's Republic of China based there claim that the shoal would have first been discovered by Chinese in the 13th century and historically used by Chinese fishermen. Though its claim  to sovereignty would need a deeper basis that that provided.
On the other hand the Philippines based there claim on the international law on acquisition of sovereignty, as well as that it is within the Exclusive Economic Zone of its waters.

There are other islands being claimed as part of the territory of the Philippines, historically and because it is well within what is internationally defined as composing a countries territorial waters. Though the Philippines is guilty of not being assertive of its claims giving other countries the opportunity do so instead. But in resent events it seems that the Philippines has started to be more active in claiming what it deems rightfully theirs and one action showing that is its stand against the People's Republic of China over the Scarborough Shoal. This islands are not the only ones being claimed by the Philippines. It would be more to its advantage if it takes more active actions in asserting its claims to islands it believes is rightful part of its territory and not wait when other countries are start staking there own claims.