on 18 September, regards Sabah as a territory "over which the Republic of the Philippines has acquired dominion and sovereignty". The Malaysian government responded by suspending diplomatic relations and ceasing cooperation regarding smuggling. Perceived British support for Malaysia led to the British Embassy in Manila being broken into by a crowd. Philippine Foreign Secretary Narciso Ramos gave a speech at the UN General Assembly on 15 October, calling for the dispute to be settled in international courts. On 16 July 2011, the Philippine Supreme Court ruled that the Philippine claim over Sabah is retained and may be pursued in the future. Attempts at withdrawing claim At the ASEAN Summit on 4 August 1977, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos announced that the Philippines would take "definite steps to eliminate one of the burdens of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) — the claim of the Philippine Republic to Sabah". The statement, however was not followed through, despite negotiations and reassurances made by Marcos again in 1984 with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Following the overthrow of Marcos, President Corazon Aquino sought to officially drop the claim before the 1987 ASEAN Summit. A bill to repeal Republic Act 5446 was filed by Leticia Ramos Shahani in the Philippine Senate in 1987. The bill was widely criticised for effectively dropping the country's claim over the territory. Muslim members of Congress also voiced their strong opposition to the measure for fears it would "endanger" the proprietary rights of the Sultanate of Sulu. This eventually led Shahani to not pursue the bill's passage. While Aquino's successor Fidel V. Ramos was similarly unable to obtain consensus to drop the claim, he officially put the dispute aside in order to improve ties with Malaysia. Later, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was similarly unable to gain consensus on the matter. The 2009 Philippine baseline law does not include Sabah within Philippine territory, although the Philippine Government at the time stated that this did not affect the claim. Formation of Malaysia Prior to the formation of the Malaysia, two commissions of enquiry visited North Borneo, along with neighbouring Sarawak, to establish the state of public opinion there regarding merger with Malaya (and Singapore). The commission was mandated to address self-determination of the people of Sabah, i.e., the right of the people of Sabah to freely determine their own political status and freely pursue their own economic, social and cultural development. The