Gov’t to study Sabah report, consult stakeholders

MANILA, Philippines - Although now in possession of a legal brief on the country’s Sabah claim, Malacañang said it wants the document subjected to further scrutiny and consultations before making its next move.

“So that (report) has to go through the process. The concerned agencies affected, offices, etcetera, will have to provide comments,” Aquino told reporters on the sidelines of the celebration of the 5th anniversary of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines in Pasay City. A panel led by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima prepared the report.

“I haven’t seen that. She (De Lima) said that she was giving it, the last time we met, the following day. Perhaps there are now 10 volumes, these are folders of about four to six inches thick of matters that need my attention,” Aquino said.

De Lima said she submitted the report to Malacañang last Friday.

Aquino said that at the moment, he was preoccupied with other concerns like beating the March 29 deadline for appointments as well as reviewing or hopefully signing into law more than 290 bills passed by Congress.

At the DOJ, De Lima declined to divulge details of the report but said it tackles the strengths and weaknesses of the country’s Sabah claim.

“I tried to come up with a comprehensive study considering the historical and legal perspectives to answer the questions of will we have a strong case if we pursue this before an appropriate tribunal and what are the options in light of the current situation,” she told reporters in an ambush interview.

She explained that the President also would want to await results of separate reports from the Department of Foreign Affairs and from Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Benjamin Caguioa.

“There are complex matters. We don’t know if the President will refer it (DOJ report) to a group of independent experts,” she pointed out.

The country’s Sabah claim had been dormant for years until followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III – many of them armed – sailed to the territory last month to stake their claim to the territory. Malaysian forces later moved in to expel them in a bloody crackdown that killed almost a hundred people and forced an exodus of thousands of Filipinos to Mindanao.

Uprising feared

In Davao City, Kiram’s daughter Jacel Kiram said Malaysia is inviting a full-blown uprising with its bloody crackdown in Sabah.

“It is not just about the royal sultanate forces (RSF). The uprising is among the locals of Sabah themselves. They are fighting the Malaysian government already,” Kiram told reporters in a press briefing yesterday.

Kiram pointed out that the arrest of her cousin Amirbahar Hushim Kiram and wife Gina showed that the Malaysians were becoming desperate. The couple were being accused of bankrolling the activities of the sultan’s followers in Sabah led by Agbimuddin Kiram.

Jacel said Amirbahar – a longtime resident of Semporna – had even been asked by Malaysian officials to help convince Agbimuddin to end the Sabah standoff before the outbreak of violence.  “And now they capture Amirbahar and say that he is a leader of the RSF. That is not true,” Kiram said. 

In Manila, sultanate spokesman Abraham Idjirani also denied Malaysia’s claim that Amirbahar, 50, and his wife were RSF leaders.

Malaysia’s The Star Online reported that Amirbahar and wife were cornered by the police in a swampy area in Kampung Sri Melor Bugaya, Semporna.

Malaysia’s New Straits Times quoted Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar as saying the Kiram couple coordinated and supplied the needs of the sultanate’s followers in Lahad Datu.

While the two were being accused of serious crime, Idjirani said they were being treated well in detention. “They are being treated well. This is the report sent by a relative from Semporna,” he said.

Idjirani said Amirbahar was carrying a Philippine passport when arrested.

Amirbahar started shuttling between Mindanao and Sabah in 2000 and had even written the chief minister of Sabah last year requesting that he and his wife be allowed to permanently settle in Sabah, the spokesman said.

According to Idjirani, the letter was not answered. “He is a Filipino. He is using a Philippine passport,” said Idjirani.

The sultanate spokesman said the Malaysian government allowed Amirbahar to settle in Sabah without an identification card because he is a member of the sultanate’s royal line.

“They (Sultan Jamalul Kiram and his siblings) asked Malaysia to issue them ICs but the Malaysian government said there is no need for them to be given ICs as they are the owners of Sabah,” Idjirani said.

Reinvestigation

Meanwhile, a Tawi-Tawi court has ordered the DOJ to reinvestigate the criminal charges filed against the 38 alleged armed followers of Kiram who were intercepted while crossing the Sulu Sea from Sabah last March 13.

Chief public attorney Persida Rueda-Acosta, chief counsel of the indigent accused, confirmed to The STAR that Bonggao, Tawi-Tawi Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 5 granted their motion for reinvestigation during hearing yesterday.

She said the DOJ should therefore conduct a preliminary investigation into the charges of illegal possession of firearms, violation of election gun ban, and inciting to war against the accused.

She said an investigating fiscal had approved the filing of charges against the 38 only after inquest proceedings.

“It will be up to madam secretary of justice to decide whether the PI (preliminary investigation) will be conducted in DOJ in Manila or in the fiscal’s office in Tawi-Tawi. We did not specify the desired venue in our motion,” Acosta explained.

But before the preliminary investigation can begin, the RTC will have to first rule on the motion of the 38 for lower bail. – With Edith Regalado and Mike Frialde