MANILA - Philippine President Gloria Arroyo met with a Filipino sultan today in connection with the Philippines claim on Sabah, telling him that reclaiming the territory will take a "long, long time", a presidential aide said.

Sultan Jamalul Kiram and a brother, their wives and 36 other relatives held a luncheon meeting with Arroyo at Malacanang palace, said presidential adviser Norberto Gonzales, who was also at the meeting.

"What the president has advised the family (was), the sovereignty rights would take a long long time. We don't know when that will happen," Gonzales told reporters.

Manila's sovereignty claim on the state is based on the proprietary rights of the southern Philippines Islamic sultanate. The sultan of Brunei had ceded the territory to the Sulu sultanate in the 18th century to thank him for his aid in war.

Malaysia, which pays the Filipino sultanate's heirs RM6,300 annually, rejects its neighbour's sovereignty claim.

The territorial dispute first cropped up when Malaysia gained independence from Britain in 1963.

Manila's claim was later de-emphasised by former president Fidel Ramos in the early 1990s as part of efforts to advance economic ties with Malaysia.

'More reasonable' payments

But certain Filipino legislators urged Arroyo to revive the claim last month after the Sabah state government deported hundreds of Filipino illegal migrants, many of them from the Muslim southern Philippines.

Gonzales said Arroyo told the heirs that her cabinet intends to discuss the issue of the Sabah claim in a planned meeting with leaders of Congress. He gave no timetable.

Gonzales said Arroyo, with regards to the sultanate's proprietary rights, was "very precise in her statement that she really wants the heirs of the sultanate to be protected in terms of their future."

He said the Malaysian authorities should consider making "more reasonable" payments to the sultanate's heirs. AFP