MANILA - The Philippine government said Friday that it had taken measures to protect the website of President Benigno Aquino III from hackers.

The website of the Philippine president, www.president.gov.ph, was hacked by a group called "Anonymous Philippines" which expressed their disappointment over the administration's dealing with the Sabah dispute.

Presidential Communications Operations secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the government detected the breach in Aquino's website at around 1:30 a.m. Friday and immediately put in place "protection measures".

"An errant sentence critical of the government on the Sabah issue was found to have been inserted in one of the news items within the website," said Coloma.

Local government websites had also been hacked following the standoff in the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah between followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III and Malaysian security forces.