DFA exec: Sabah standoff over; three dead, one wounded

(Updated 4:53 p.m.) Some 10 followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III in Sabah surrendered to authorities Friday, signalling the end of the weeks-long standoff there between Kiram's group and Malaysian police, according to a Philippine government official.

“The [Malaysian] ambassador said that the standoff is now over,” said Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said at a briefing in Manila, citing information from the meeting between Malaysian Ambassador Zamri Kassim and Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario.

But the standoff was not without bloodshed, however, as three people, two of them members of the Malaysian police, were killed and another one was wounded in an encounter, said Hernandez.

Malaysian state news agency Bernama said that two Malaysian police had been killed in a mortar attack and two wounded after security forces tried to force out the group of at least 100 Filipinos who have been holed up in eastern Sabah state for more than two weeks.

The other confirmed fatality, whose nationality has yet to be determined, was the owner of the house where Kiram's brother, Raja Muda Agbimuddin, the alleged leader of the Filipino group, stayed. 

The rest of the Filipino group reportedly "escaped to sea" and are being pursued by Malaysian police, Hernandez said.

Kiram and his followers were demanding recognition from Malaysia and renegotiation of the original terms of a lease on Sabah by the Sultanate to a British trading company in the 19th century. Malaysian officials have said the group's demands would not be met.

 

Sabah, located south of Mindanao, is territorially disputed by the Philippines and Malaysia. A Philippine claim for sovereignty over Sabah has lain dormant for decades, but Malaysia continues to pay a yearly rent to the heirs of Sultan of Sulu, who claim to be the descendants of the original Filipino sultan who had control over the territory for centuries.

Hernandez said there was no confirmation yet on reports that the encounter between Kiram's followers and members of the Malaysian police has resulted in the deaths of 10 Filipinos, as claimed by Kiram's camp at a separate briefing in Taguig City earlier in the day.

Quoting the Malaysian ambassador to the Philippines, Hernandez said the Philippine Navy is now seeking clearance to send a medical team to Lahad Datu in Sabah to attend to the wounded and those in need of assistance.

Prior to the confrontation, which could reignite tension between the Philippines and Malaysia, whose ties have been periodically frayed by security and migration problems along their sea border, both governments had urged the Filipino group to return home.

"Do not test our patience, our patience has reached the limit," Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was quoted as saying in the Bernama report.

The crisis erupted at a time when the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are negotiating for a Malaysian-brokered peace deal aimed at ending decades of rebellion in strife-torn Mindanao.

Every year, hundreds of Filipino-Muslims enter Sabah through Mindanao in search of a better life. Most of the undocumented Filipinos in Sabah hail from Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and other far-flung provinces in the south that are among the Philippines’ poorest and constantly plagued by war.— Michaela del Callar with a report from Reuters/KBK/RSJ, GMA News