Tingting visits Sulu sultan

MANILA, Philippines - Former Tarlac governor and opposition senatorial candidate Margarita “Tingting” Cojuangco yesterday pledged to raise funds for the legal defense of Filipinos who were arrested by Malaysian authorities in connection with the incursion by the supporters of the Sultanate of Sulu in Sabah.

Cojuangco, who is running under the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), visited Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III at his house in Maharlika Village, Taguig City.

“The sultan asked me to come here in order to share with him the importance of helping Filipinos who are imprisoned in Sabah. They have no lawyers,” Cojuangco said.

Cojuangco said she intends to raise P500,000 to fund the legal assistance for Filipinos arrested in Sabah and in Tawi Tawi on suspicion that they are members of the royal sultanate force.

“We now have a pool of volunteer lawyers. But the funds are just not enough for their food and transportation needs,” she said.

Cojuangco said she feels close to Filipino Muslims, having spent some 26 years in the five provinces of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) while finishing her history and doctorate degrees. Cojuangco added that she has been a close friend of the Kiram family.

Aside from raising funds for the legal aid of the arrested suspected supporters of the sultanate in Sabah and Tawi Tawi, Cojuangco added that she also intends to help in the documentation of Filipino refugees who were displaced by the fighting between the Malaysian security forces and the sultanate’s forces in Sabah.

“The sultan believes that he needs someone he could trust. We will help those here to be documented so they could go back to North Borneo and Sabah, which in 1685 was actually given to the Sultan of Sulu,” she added.

Cojuangco stressed the need to have the almost 850 refugees documented so that they could return to Sabah.

She intends to tap the assistance of the Bureau of Immigration and the Department of Foreign Affairs in the documentation process.

Fatima Cecilia Kiram, wife of Sultan Kiram, said many of those deported from Sabah arrived in the Philippines without birth certificates.

“The government should hasten to issue them Philippine passports,” said Fatima.

Meanwhile, Cojuangco also expressed support for the reported plan of her nephew President Aquino to hold a dialog for the resolution of the ongoing Sabah standoff.

“He (President) has already asked for a dialog. I am in favor of that dialog,” she said.

Sultan’s commander still alive

Sources from Sulu said that Haji Abdullah Musa, the commander of the sultanate forces whom Malaysian security officials claimed was killed in the fighting in Lahad Datu, is still alive.

In fact, Musa is actively coordinating and directing all guerrilla operations against the Malaysian forces on behalf of Agbimuddin Kiram, who had to leave the conflict zone for a much-needed rest.

“The Malaysian troops got the wrong Musa. The real Commander Musa is now leading the charge against the more superior Malaysian security forces,” the source said.

Musa, he said, has been entrusted by Agbimuddin to take charge of the sultanate forces and to carry out the guerrilla operations while he is taking a rest outside of the conflict zone.

Sultanate spokesman Abraham Idjirani had also belied reports by Malaysian state media Bernama that its forces killed Musa along with 22 other fighters in the Lahad Datu fighting last March 12.

The source said more young Tausugs are now gearing up to join the Sabah fighting in support of the Sulu sultanate’s claim over the territory.

“Whatever the Malaysian leadership say, inside their hearts and minds they know that they are now facing a long and costly protracted war,” he said.

The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) dismissed claims made by Malaysian authorities that the Malaysians are now in full control of the security situation in Sabah.

Haji Gapul Hajirul, MNLF political bureau chief, said the sultanate forces have been continuously engaging the Malaysian troops in off and on fighting in Semporna, Tawau, and Lahad Datu.

Meanwhile, another batch of 121 Filipinos from Sabah have reached Taganak Island via the Sandakan route, the provincial crisis management official in Tawi-Tawi said yesterday.

Taganak Island, which is just half an hour boat ride from Sandakan, Sabah has become the landing point of Filipinos fleeing Sabah.

The group is now waiting for a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel to transport them to Bongao in Tawi-Tawi for processing and documentation before being allowed to return to their respective homes.

Reports from the crisis management committee based at the Western Mindanao Command in Zamboanga City showed that 4,019 people, mostly women and children, have fled Sabah since the fighting started and arrived in Taganak Island, Tawi-Tawi and Basilan. – Mike  Frialde and Jaime Laude