Sabah situation may affect Team PNoy bets' chances in poll

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Sergio Osmeña III said Thursday that President Benigno Aquino III's handling of the Sabah situation may affect the standing of the administration’s senatorial candidates.

Osmeña cited the Sabah issue as an example when asked on the ratio of senators coming from the Liberal Party coalition and the United Nationalist Alliance.

“For example, the Sabah issue. If that’s mishandled or it turns out badly, it could affect the entire complexion of the election campaign,” said Osmeña, who was a major key player in the victory of President Aquino in 2010.

Osmeña, who admitted advising senatorial bets Bam Aquino and Grace Poe in the campaign, noted that surveys cannot give a person an accurate description of the results of the elections “two months from today.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Loren Legarda on Thursday called on the government to do everything in its capacity to prevent the occurrence of a humanitarian crisis due to the ongoing conflict in Sabah.

Legarda, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, also urged the administration to ask call for help from humanitarian organizations such as the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

“As our government is trying to provide humanitarian and consular assistance to Filipinos involved and are caught in the conflict in Sabah, many of those who have voluntarily evacuated from Sabah are proceeding to Sulu, Tawi-Tawi or Basilan, and with the influx of evacuees, there is a greater need for food, water, and temporary shelter,” she said.

“To prevent a humanitarian crisis, it would be prudent to seek assistance from the IFRC not only for those who are already in the country but also for the Filipinos who remain in Sabah. This we must do without abandoning reports of inhumane treatment of Filipinos in Sabah because these allegations need to be immediately verified by our government and action should be undertaken to put the alleged atrocities under check,” Legarda said.

Another senatorial candidate, Bro. Eddie Villanueva, slammed the Malaysian government for continuously denying access to Filipinos arrested by Malaysian forces as a result of the ongoing situation in Sabah.

Villanueva also criticized Philippine government officials for placing conditions in helping Filipinos coming from Sabah.

Villanueva said he sympathizes with Filipinos now detained in Malaysia over suspicions that they belong to or sympathize with the group that occupied a village in Lahad Datu and sparked a standoff with Malaysian authorities.