SABAH DEATH toll reached up 22: recently 5 Malaysian policemen killed in ambush in Semporna, Sabah

Part of Kampung Sri Jaya Simunul in Semporna, a village on water where the gun fight between the Sulu militants and Malaysian police took place. -- NSTP/Datu Ruslan Sulai

• March 1: 12 Sulu Royal Army killed, and 2 Malaysian Police
• March 2: 2 Malaysian Police killed
• March 3: 3 Malaysian Policed killed, 2 Sulu Royal Army supporters , 1 armed man killed by villager

3 more Malaysian policemen were killed in an ambush during a police raid on a village on water in Semporna, Sabah yesterday, bringing the total number of casualty to 5.

Inspector-General of  Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar said two Sulu armed men were killed in the incident.

The latest incident brings the death toll of Malaysian policemen to 7 with the two police commandos who were killed during Friday's attack by Sulu militants near their hideout in Kampung Tanduo in Lahad Datu, about 130km from Semporna yesterday.

The 5 personnel, he said were deployed to conduct a "ground assessment" when they were ambushed.

Security forces returned fire, killing 2 of the armed men.

Ismail named three areas where security forces were up against foreigners - Lahad Datu, Semporna and Kunak.

"Police received information of 2 armed men at two villages, Kampung Lormalong and Kg Dasar Lama.

"10 foreigners with three in camouflage uniforms and arms are currently hiding in a house," he told the media in Lahad Datu.

In Kampung Tanduo, he said 3 of the Sulu Royal Army who were attempting to leave the cordoned-off area, had been arrested.

No curfew or travel advisory to Sabah had been imposed, to date.  

Ismail advised everyone to stay calm and refrain from spreading rumors.

Only statements from him, Ismail said,  should be believed.

 

Meanwhile, in Semporna,a group of local villagers overpowered a gunman  before shooting him dead with his own M16, when the  man  took them hostage near Kampung Senallang Lama this morning.

About 10 of them fought back and attacked the would-be kidnapper as he forced them to walk towards the hills in the coastal village at about 10am.

Murba Mohammad Dahil from Kabogan who was one of the hostages, said they pounced on the man as he forced them to walk up a hill.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported that Ismail said police were investigating whether the armed men were linked to the more than 150 armed intruders in Kampung Tanduo, Lahad Datu, about 150 kilometres from Semporna.  

Last Friday, 2 VAT 69 commandos; ASP Zulkifli Mamat, 29, and Sergeant Sabarudin Daud, 46, were killed and 3 other policemen injured in a shootout with the armed intruders, claiming to be members of the Royal Army of the Sulu Sultanate in the Southern Philippines, in Kampung Tanduo, Sabah, North Borneo. 

12 of the Sulu Royal Army were also killed in the incident.

Ismail said he would name the 5 policemen later.  

In a separate development, he said, police detected another group of 10 men, 3 of them armed, in Kampung Lomalong and Kampung Dasar Lama, Kunak, at about 10 pm yesterday. 

We're tracking their movement," he said.

Ismail said the police also detained 3 of the more than 150 armed Sulu Royal Army who had entrenched themselves in Kampung Tanduo since Feb 9.

"The 3 men are believed to have attempted to leave the group," he said, declining to provide further details of the arrests. 

with report from NewStraitsTimes

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OFWs urged: Come home more often, join FB, invite all

Rob Schneider- Hollywood Actor said: To be a Filipino, It's just fun anywhere 

Add a few more Facebook friends and earn the title "new tourism ambassadors" in the process.

The catchy campaign come-on was pitched by Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr., who urged more than 9 million overseas Filipinos to "go into the social network and begin to connect with everyone else in the world."

"No matter how many kinds of Filipinos are in the world today—Filipino-Americans, Filipino-Chinese, Filipino-Italians, Filipino-Japanese, Filipino-Singaporeans, Filipino-French, Filipino-Arabs, Filipino-Germans, Filipino-Canadians and Filipino-Swedes, among others—there will always be only one type of fun. It's called Filipino fun," Jimenez said in a speech during the closing program of the Second Global Summit of Filipinos in the Diaspora on Feb. 27 in a Makati City hotel.

He said that kind of fun comes from an openness, which happens to be a common Filipino trait.

"To build a nation, one can only begin with the most basic of all ingredients—national pride. Your self-esteem, your confidence is what will make people sit up and take notice. They will praise you for your hard work, your perseverance, your intelligence, your discipline," he said.

"But if you are great fun, if you are confident in yourself, they will follow you in the Philippines," he added.

Come home

In his remarks, Jimenez also urged overseas Filipinos to come home to the Philippines more often.

Last year, a record 4.27 million tourists visited the country, a 9.07-percent increase over the 3.92 million visitors in 2011.

Jimenez expressed confidence that the 2012 figures could be surpassed this year with the help of the Filipino diaspora, which he said was "not just a spreading out of Filipinos."

"Because if all we did was to spread out, it could be the beginning of a separation, which is what makes this gathering very crucial, some important and so necessary," he said.

Common view

Jimenez said the tourism slogan "It's more fun in the Philippines" is an invitation to the world that Filipinos share more than a language.

"We share a common view of our world. We remind each other of the things that matter most—family, friendship and God," he added.

For his part, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said the government was encouraging the active participation of overseas Filipinos and their involvement in national issues.

"Our foreign service posts are partners of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas  in communicating with and mobilizing overseas Filipinos to participate in various programs," including, among others, the Business Advisory Circle, which assists Philippine nationals abroad in setting up business partnerships in the country; the Alay Dunong program, which systematizes the skills and technology exchange between overseas Filipinos and the Philippines; and the Return and Reintegration Program, which assists balikbayans to successfully reintegrate into local life.

Proactive approach

Del Rosario said the country's embassies and consulates abroad were also taking a proactive approach to urge overseas Filipinos to join the country's overseas absentee voting and dual citizenship programs.

The government also puts the welfare and protection of the rights of Filipinos abroad in its top priorities, he added.

"In cooperation with other government agencies and international organizations, the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) has repatriated a total of 14,203 OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) from areas affected by civil strife or natural disasters, from 2011 up to the present. In particular, a total of 3,457 Filipinos were repatriated from war-torn Syria since the uprising began in 2011. Despite the ongoing crisis in the middle eastern country, the Philippine Embassy in Damascus continues its operations in order to evacuate the OFWs who remain there and ensure their safety and well-being," he reported.

Del Rosario said during the past eight years, 746 Filipino seafarers who fell victims to piracy had been released and repatriated through the joint efforts of the country's embassies abroad, manning agencies and the sailors' principals.

Last year, 122 Filipino victims of human trafficking and illegal recruitment were assisted by the DFA, he said.

In 2011, a total of 28 OFWs facing the death penalty were provided legal assistance by the agency. Last year, at least 40 of 130 OFWs with death penalty cases were commuted to life or fixed imprisonment, he said.

To further intensify efforts to promote and protect the rights of Filipino migrant workers, the DFA head said the Philippines had adopted a new qualification framework containing sets of training regulations for Filipinos that prescribe competency standards for various qualifications.

"The country also ratified in August 2012 the International Labor Convention (ILO) No. 189 on decent work for household service workers," said Del Rosario, noting the Philippines was the "first Asian nation to commit itself to the respect and implementation of the new ILO labor standard that was adopted on June 16, 2011, during the ILO conference in Geneva."

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Department of Justice eyes International court for Sabah claim

The government is considering bringing the territorial claim of the Sultanate of Sulu over Sabah before an international tribunal even as the standoff between followers of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III and Malaysian authorities came to a bloody end yesterday.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima confirmed the Department of Justice (DOJ) is studying the option of bringing the case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for resolution.

"That is among the options we are looking into. Of course there are international fora available so we're considering that," De Lima said.

De Lima admitted that the move needs "careful study."

De Lima also stressed that resolution of the issue would not be confined to the legal aspect alone.

"We have to consider standing policies of the administration, including foreign policies," she said.

The DOJ is currently weighing the legality of the claims of Kiram on Sabah. De Lima said it would take a few more days before the DOJ comes up with its legal opinion on the issue.

"At first I thought I could finish it in a few days, but it'a very complicated thing and we have to be very careful. There'a lot of research materials and documents we need to read. I'm already halfway done with the memorandum," she said.

De Lima said the Philippine government did its best to prevent a violent end to the standoff in Sabah.

She said the administration had exhausted all possible means to peacefully resolve the situation, including the use of backdoor channels.

University of the Philippines law professor Harry Roque said it would be "distressing" if the government would file criminal charges against the followers of the sultan who went to Sabah.

Roque said Philippine laws would not apply in the case.

"I can't see how anything that they've done in Sabah can be prosecuted here. I can't see how they can be charged with rebellion. Have they taken up arms against the Philippine government?" Roque asked.

Roque also proposed bringing the issue before the ICJ.

Diplomacy

Lawmakers called on the government to continue using diplomacy in dealing with the crisis in Sabah.

They also warned against issuing statements that might aggravate the situation.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago expressed support for President Aquino's move to take a sober and restrained action on the standoff so that the peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will not be affected.

"We do not want to aggravate our neighbors... who are offering their good offices to solve our Mindanao problem," Santiago said.

She said no state wants to stage a minor warfare with another country.

"From a cost-analysis point of view. It is just not worth the cost,"Santiago said.

Santiago supported moves to take the issue before the ICJ.

She said she understood President Aquino's moves in dealing with the issue.

"We do not even know whether the Sultan of Sabah is claiming it for the Philippines, if he intends to turn over ownership and governance to our national government, or whether he is claiming it for himself,"Santiago said.

Santiago said the claim should be clarified first.

"if he is claiming it only for himself, then he should be left to his resources and he should not galvanize our government into a military posture against the Malaysian government, which has been very friendly to our country," Santiago said.

She emphasized that there should be "no militaristic posturing on the part of the Philippine government."

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano also hailed President Aquino for his approach to the Sabah incident.

"The President is simply understanding the situation but that doesn't mean he is not supporting the Sultanate in its claim. He has more information than us and he is the one talking to the Malaysian government," Cayetano said.

Sen. Koko Pimentel said the sultanate should raise its claims to Sabah before an international tribunal.

Sen. Francis Escudero expressed the belief that the issue could have been a private affair for the Sultan of Sulu.

"It's private right and a private claim. He cannot say, however, that Sabah is part of the Philippines," Escudero noted.

He said the country'interest should be detached from the private claim of the Sulu sultanate since it may affect diplomatic relations with Malaysia.

Escudero expressed hope the issue will not be dragged into the political arena since the problem involves national interest.

The incident, however, opens opportunities for the government to ask Malaysian authorities about the condition of 800,000 Filipinos living there, Escudero said.

Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate committee on foreign relations, said the administration should deal with the issue in a diplomatic manner.

"The first line of defense for Filipinos in the Sabah standoff is provided by the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs). Diplomacy should prevail as we seek to encourage and assure our Filipino brothers in the standoff that there is a peaceful way of resolving their claims," she said.

Legarda said violence should not have been the solution in dealing with the issue.

She also reiterated her appeal to all concerned to avoid statements and actions that will further inflame the already tense and delicate situation.

Former senator Richard Gordon described the situation in Sabah as "severely woeful, anti-Filipino, and subservient to Malaysia."

Gordon said a bloody encounter could have been avoided and should never have happened if foreign affairs officials had handled the situation well and properly advised the President.

Gordon said the DFA should be at the forefront of the matter and must never compromise the President of the Philippines by allowing him to make comments on such issues.

"Whoever is advising the President on foreign policy matters has done terribly wrong by our people and has put us on a slippery slope with regard to this conflict," Gordon said.

Former senator Ernesto Maceda said the violence in Sabah was "unfortunate."

Cagayan Rep. Jack Enrile said the attack on the sultanate's followers in Sabah was "saddening."

He said the sultanate's followers in Sabah deserve the protection of the Philippine government.  –  Christina Mendez, Jose Rodel Clapano, Ding Cervantes. (http://bit.ly/XfB6we)

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UNA on Sabah: Aquino sent mixed signals to Kiram to chose between DEVIL AND DEEP BLUE SEA

'DEVIL AND DEEP BLUE SEA.' Sen Gregorio Honasan II said President Aquino's statement that Kiram's group should return to the Philippines but also possibly face charges is like making them choose between the devil and the deep blue sea. File photo

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – Opposition senatorial candidates said the Aquino administration could have handled the Sabah standoff better.

In phone interviews with Rappler on Friday, March 1, senatorial bets of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) said the violence is Sabah was unfortunate and could have been avoided.

The candidates assessed the administration's response to the standoff on the eve of UNA sorties in Mindanao.

Sen Gregorio Honasan II cited the statement of President Benigno Aquino III to Sultan Jamalul Kiram III of the Sultanate of Sabah last Tuesday, February 26.

President Aquino called on Kiram to ask his men to stand down but also reminded the group of possible violations of the Constitution.

"How could we have avoided [armed confrontation]? By sending clear signals. Case in point, the President sent mixed signals. We were asking the followers of Sultan Kiram to board a ship to take them home. At the same time, we implied in subsequent statements that charges were being prepared against them. That had to be clarified but it was not so followers were caught in a bind," Honasan told Rappler.

He added, "That should have been calibrated. If you were in their place, it's like being made to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea. 'You go home but we'll file charges against you."

Resigned Sen Juan Miguel Zubiri said that Aquino's statement did not help ease the tension in Sabah.

"I would have wanted the government to have spoken to the Sultan of Sulu. I think that's what he just wanted. He wanted a little acknowledgement that there will be some sort of support on his claims. The government could have addressed that without having to say 'Bring your troops home first and discuss later.'"

Zubiri said, "That type of ultimatum is bordering on the arrogant, especially when there are lives in harm's way and at stake."

The former Bukidnon Rep said Aquino should "not have shut the door."

"You never shut the door in negotiations. They should have thought of all types of negotiated settlement in this case."

On Friday, The 17-day standoff ended after security forces assaulted Lahad Datu, Sabah, resulting in the death of one civilian and two Malaysian policemen, according to Malaysian officials.

In contrast to UNA, candidates of the administration slate Team PNoy expressed full support for Aquino's handling of the issue.

Malaysian police escort the body of dead police commandos killed in a mortar attack during a standoff with Sulu Royal Force  in Tanduo village near Lahad Datu on Sabah Friday. Fourteen people including two police officers were killed on March 1 as Malaysian security forces ended a standoff with Filipino gunmen over a territorial dispute in Sabah. AFP PHOTO / BERNAMA NEWS AGENCY

'Response subservient to Malaysia'

In a press statement, former Sen Richard Gordon also criticized the administration's response as "severely, woeful, anti-Filipino and subservient to Malaysia."

Gordon said the Department of Foreign Affairs should have led the response to the standoff "and must never compromise the President of the Philippines by allowing him to make comments on such issues."

Gordon also said the government sent the wrong signal to Malaysia "when it portrayed the Filipinos pursuing the claim on Sabah as common criminals."

"The Malaysians were allowed to think by our own authorities that Filipinos are expendable. The issue should have been more carefully handled by our foreign affairs officials, but clearly foreign policy and crisis management have not been the strong suit of this administration," Gordon said.

Former Sen Ernesto Maceda also told Rappler that Aquino must take decisive action on the issue.

"It's a hesitating stand, lackluster stand because from all the past presidents, nobody really pursued the matter seriously and even President Aquino has not taken a definite stand on claiming Sabah as a stand on our territory."

"The Aquino administration must make a definite statement supporting the claim of the Sultan of Sulu to the territory. It hasn't made a definite statement on the matter."

San Juan Rep JV Ejercito said he would reserve judgment as the situation is still ongoing but said all sides must prevent the escalation of conflict.

"We appeal to our Muslim brothers to be calm and sober. Both the Sultanate of Sulu and the Malaysian government should sit down and talk and come up with terms acceptable to both. We have full trust in what the government is [doing] in this issue."

'Lawmakers also responsible'

Moving forward, Honasan said the government must avoid further deteriorating the situation, stressing that the issue is far from over.

The senator said government must come up with a "clear peace and foreign policy," communicate better with Kiram and the Moro National Liberation Front, and reactivate the Joint Executive-Legislative Committee on Sabah that first met during the Ramos administration.

Honasan admitted that leaders past and present are responsible for the issue.

"From where I sit from the last 15 years, I cannot recall any initiative on our part to address this. Occasionally, we hear about it and I don't think it was given enough emphasis and I think we should accept responsibility for that."

"It was not placed in our order of national priority. Medyo napabayaan (We neglected it), but considering the potential impact on the peace process, I think there are important lessons to be learned," Honasan added.

As an aspiring legislator, Zubiri said lawmakers must file a resolution to study the issue.

"We have to look at all the documentary evidence of the Sultan of Sulu. It will start there. If the documentary evidence weighs heavily on our favor, then the national government should decide whether to support the claim or out of friendship with Malaysia, abandon the claim."

"It's something that has to be decided upon with finality, put a closure to this particular chapter of disputes. It's about time to find the appropriate response once and for all," Zubiri added.

read more in Rappler.com

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Lawmaker Miriam Santiago praises Aquino's sober treatment of Sabah issue

Malaysian police officers patrol near a village about 130 kilometers from Lahad Datu in Sabah, where followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III remain holed up after defying an order to leave. AP 

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago on Friday welcomed President Aquino's move to take a sober and restrained action on the standoff in Sabah to protect the peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

"We do not want to aggravate our neighbor, on what we call in international law, who are offering their good offices to solve our so-called Mindanao problem," she said.

"We do not want to take any step that could be interpreted as an act of not really aggression, but an act of provocation. You know, in diplomacy, we have to be extremely careful with our language. And that is what the country is doing," Santiago said.

She noted that no state wants to stage a minor warfare with another country. "It's from a cost-analysis point of view. It is not just worth the cost," Santiago said.

Informed that the Malaysian forces have attacked the royal army of the Sultanate of Sulu holed up in Lahad Datu in Sabah, Santiago said the government should be careful on threading on a foreign policy issue.

"Then we have to verify that if they have been acting on self defense. We don't really know," she said after attending the Go Negosyo's 5th Filipina Entrepreneurship Summit on Friday at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

"We cannot really make announcements on foreign policy issues. Foreign policy issues are very, very tricky. We have to be extremely careful and that is what the Aquino administration is doing," Santiago said.

Santiago, former chairperson of the Senate committee on foreign relations, welcomed President Aquino's move to "not immediately jump on the bandwagon."

"It has taken full patience as a guideline in the propaganda concerning this controversy. I think that is a good diplomatic move," she said.

"The Aquino administration appears not to be at all hospitable to the claims of the Sultan of Sulu because even our government is not fully acquainted with the historical details of the claim. I think it is all a tempest in the teapot," Santiago added.

Santiago supported the move of President Aquino in dealing with the crisis.

"The management of this controversy has been very sober and has emphasized the democratic rather the other aspects, particularly the martial aspects of this controversy," she said.

"It is correct for the PNoy administration to adopt this restraint stance because otherwise we have to go to the International Court of Justice, which is the final tribunal for territorial disputes and that can take decades and decades," Santiago added.

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More than 10 Dead RSA Sulu Sultanate and Malaysias War in Sabah

A Philippine policeman stands guard near the Malaysian embassy in Manila after Malaysian authorities ended the Sabah stand-off with Filipino gunmen. (AFP PHOTO/TED ALJIBE) 

More than 10 unconfirmed dead  from Royal Sulu Army and confirmed 3 , including two police officers, were killed on Friday as Malaysian security forces reported in the clash between Malaysian security forces and the Royal Security group of the Sulu Sultanate crowned prince Rajah Mudah Agbimuddin Kiram this afternoon after the exchange of gunfire in Tanduo village.

Although officially unconfirmed, the reported casualty tally remains at more than ten Sulu gunmen dead and four injured including its leader Rajah Mudah Azzimudie Kiram with two commandos of the General Operations Force dead and four injured.

Three of the GOF injured men have been airlifted to Lahad Datu hospital and another to the Duchess of Kent hospital in Sandakan.

Conflicting reports emerged from the ground that the GOF forces were holding their fire and their positions while there has been no word from Azzumudie who last talked with a radio station in Manila at about 11am confirming the fire fight and the group's casualties.

It is believed that apart from machine gunfire, mortars were used during the encounter though details of how the clash began remains unclear.

However, it appears that the Malaysian security forces were fired upon first by the Sulu gunmen.

On standby are also the Army units who were seen at various strategic locations along the road to Sahabat Felda 17 where the Sulu group have been holed up.

Journalists have been told to wait at a neighboring Sahabat 16 resort for a police press conference scheduled for 5pm.

Dozens of followers of the little-known sultan of Sulu had been facing off with Malaysian police for the past two weeks, after they sailed from their homes in the southern Philippines to stake a territorial claim in North Borneo.

The 74-year-old Sultan Jamalul Kiram III says he is the head of the Islamic Sultanate of Sulu, which once controlled parts of Borneo including the site of the stand-off, as well as southern Philippine islands.

The owner of the house where the leader of the gunmen stayed during the 17-day stand-off was also killed but the nationality was not known, Philippine foreign department spokesman Raul Hernandez told reporters, citing a report by Malaysia's ambassador.

A third Malaysian police officer was wounded after the gunmen opened fire on their van, he said.

"The Malaysian ambassador said that the rest of the Kiram group in Lahad Datu escaped and ran toward the sea," he said, adding that 10 members of the group were arrested.

Malaysia's state news agency Bernama reported that two police commandos had been killed in a mortar shell explosion as they patrolled around the village where the gunmen were holed up.

It was unclear if they were the two police officers mentioned by Hernandez.

An official at the main hospital in the town of Lahad Datu near the site of the stand-off told AFP two police officers had been brought in with gunshot wounds but were in stable condition.

Hernandez said he could not confirm allegations by a Manila spokesman for the gunmen that Malaysian security forces had shot dead 10 members of the group and wounded four others.

Hernandez said Manila had formally demanded a full account of the security operation that ended the stand-off.

Kiram's spokesman Abraham Idjirani claimed Malaysian snipers had killed 10 of the sultan's men and wounded four other members of the group.

"I talked to (the group's leader) by telephone just now and asked him how many of his men were martyred. He told me 10. I enquired about the wounded and he said four," Idjirani told a news conference at Kiram's Manila home.

Idjirani insisted Kiram's men would continue to fight and would not leave Sabah.

The Islamic Sultanate of Sulu leased northern Borneo to Europeans in the 1870s.

While the sultanate's authority gradually faded as Western colonial powers exerted their influence over the region, it continued to receive lease payments for Sabah.

The former British colony became part of the federation of Malaysia when it was formed in 1963.

Kiram and the other heirs of the sultan still receive nominal annual compensation from Malaysia in the equivalent of about $1,700.

Idjirani suggested last week that the men would stand down if the compensation were substantially raised.

With report from the Star Malaysia and Channel News Asia

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WAR begins in Sabah Sulu Sultanate with Malaysia - March 1

Sultanate of Sulu & North Borneo Crowned Rajah Mudah Agbimuddin Kiram and his Royal Guard in Lahad Datu, Sabah (North Borneo) photo: ABN news

Violence erupted in Sabah after Malaysian security forces on Friday morning started firing at a group of Filipinos holed up in a village in Sabah, the brother of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III said.

"Nagbabarilan na! Oo, nagbabarilan na!" said Rajah Mudah Agbimuddin Kiram, brother of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, in an interview aired on dzRH. (Gun shots have been fired! Yes, there have been gun shots!), the leader of the group in Sabah, said "Biglang pumasok sa amin (They suddenly came in), they were being shot  so we had to defend ourselves,"

Kiram said the exchange of gunshots has wounded one of their men. "We appeal to the Filipino people, the Tausugs, the (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) to back us up," Kiram told dzRH.

The radio station, through its Twitter account, noted gunshots heard during the interview.

Asked what time the Malaysian forces moved in, Raja said, "oras na ito (at this time)."

Sounds of shots were heard in the background while the interview was being conducted. The interview was cut, however.

The group, which claimed Sabah is their homeland, had landed in Sabah on February 9 and engaged Malaysian forces in a standoff.

Malaysian forces blocked off their food and water supplies but until Friday did not fire on them while waiting for a peaceful resolution to the situation.

On Thursday, Malaysia's The Star online reported the group of armed Filipinos coped with the blockade by living off houses abandoned by local villagers.

However, the report on Thursday said the Filipinos claimed they were "all fine" despite the land and sea blockade by Malaysian security forces.

Call for prayers

In Manila, Kiram's spokesman Abe Idjirani appealed for prayers for a peaceful solution.

Idjirani said the first shot "was done by Malaysian police authorities."

The group and the police had been separated by a 300-meter distance, he said.

In a separate interview on ANC, Sulu Sultanate spokesman Abraham Idjirani confirmed the first shot came from the Malaysian police at around 6 am. He could not confirm injuries due to gunfire, describing initial reports as "sketchy."

Idjirani, however, said they have "apprehensions" about seeking the Philippine government's intercession to end the standoff, especially given the violence.

"Wala pa kaming naiisip na paraan kasi in the previous days, lagi hong sinasabi ng Malacanang na walang sisihan, huwag n'yo kaming sisihin, kung ano mang mangyari ngayon," he said. (We have not yet thought of any means because in the previous days, Malacanang has said we should not blame them for whatever happens.)

Idjirani, however, said the Malaysian police have withdrawn from the area.

With report from Rapple.com and GMA News

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UAE: Philippines has ‘solid legal foundation’ to claim Sabah

Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III with his sister at a news briefing Tuesday in Manila. Photo: AFP

Published in Emirates 24/7; A Dubai Online News of Dubai Media Incororated

PH has 'solid legal foundation' to Sabah

A veteran Filipino diplomat has urged the Philippine government to "revisit" its claim to Sabah which has "solid legal foundation" and correct its past mistakes by not playing into Malaysia's hands anymore.

This develops as Manila has asked Kuala Lumpur for another extension—with no definite time but for a few days—to convince the followers of a Filipino sultan in southern Philippines who are holed up in Sabah to leave peacefully.

"The Sabah standoff should rouse the Philippine Rip van Winkle attitude towards our claim to the area," Lauro Baja, formerly the Philippine permanent representative to the United Nations, said. "It provides the country with a unique but sensitive opportunity to revisit our claim."

Media reports on Wednesday night said that Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario has asked Malaysia to extend for an indefinite number of days its deadline for the Filipinos holing up in Sabah's Tanduao village in Lahad Datu town to leave or face arrest and deportation.

Writing for Vera Files' news site on Wednesday night, Baja said the Philippines might be able to correct some missteps in the past through creative imagination and skillful diplomacy.

He said these missteps included moves by former president Ferdinand Marcos in the 1960s of secretly training Moro from southern Philippines to reclaim Sabah and the Philippines accepting a UN-sanctioned referendum that created the Federation of Malaysia.

The covert training held on the Philippine island of Corregidor resulted to an alleged massacre of young Moro recruits by their military handlers after they tried to escape. The referendum creating the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, on the other hand, was eventually accepted by the Philippines where North Borneo became a state of Malaysia known as Sabah. A UN Commission had found that popular opinion was in favour of North Borneo becoming a Malaysian state.

Baja said that President Benigno Aquino III must convene the National Security Council to consider pursuing the country's claim to Sabah on behalf of the Sultanate of Sulu, as the ongoing standoff has far reaching consequences.

"As days pass, the confluence of events makes it imperative that the Philippines now define its policy on Sabah," he stressed. "To continue putting the claim in the backburner is not a policy. This is an illusion, a mirage."

Failure to pursue would mean wasting previous efforts made by the Philippines before the UN and other international forums since the 1960s, he said. It could also mean violating the Philippine Constitution and other rules, as well as a Supreme Court decision declaring that the Philippines has dominion over Sabah.

"The solid legal foundation of our claim still exists," Baja stressed.

He warned the Aquino administration against going along with Malaysia on Sabah, as Kuala Lumpur is applying 'effectivités', or the effectiveness principle, in dealing with the standoff crisis. Effectivités is defined in diplomacy as the conduct of the administrative authorities as proof of the effective exercise of territorial jurisdiction in the region during the colonial period.

Baja said it is understandable how Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III feels as he has claimed that the present administration, like its predecessors, seemed not interested in pursuing the Sabah claim at the diplomatic level.

He noted that in the transfer of sovereignty document signed by the Philippine government and the sultan of Sulu, it was provided that if the former failed in pursuing the Sabah claim the agreement shall be deemed voided.

The sultan's followers, led by his brother, Sulu Crown Prince Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram, travelled to Sabah from the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, home to Muslim minority, to stake their claim to the disputed territory.

Malaysia pays a token annual rental fee to the Sultanate of Sulu for Sabah, prompting Philippine Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin to say earlier that the country's claim to Sabah has legal basis.

News source:  read more here in Emirates 24/7 

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Holocaust for "No Vietnamese, Philippines and Japanese or Dog" in Beijing Resto

This photo taken on February 26, 2013 shows a Chinese cook working in a restaurant behind a sign that says "This shop does not receive the Japanese, The Philippines, The Vietnamese and Dog" at the historic tourist district of Houhai in Beijing. AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTON

In 1654  holocoast begun for jews "NO DOGS OR JEWS ALLOWED: The Story of anti-Semitism in America."The story begins in September, 1654, on the day 23 bedraggled, impoverished Jews landed in New Amsterdam, after being expelled from Recife, Brazil when the Portuguese retook the colony from the Dutch. Governor Peter Stuyvesant didn't want them read more here

No Niggers, No Jews, No Dogs, is the story of a Black family in the South living under the rigors of racism. Rawl Cheeks is a loving family man devoted to his wife Mattie and children Joyce and Matoka. The Cheeks are a close-knit church going family struggling to make ends meet. In order to supplement their income they allow Yaveni Aaronson, a sociologist, to do research on their family. Yaveni, a Jew, is gathering material, comparing the trials and tribulations faced by the Blacks under racism with that of the suffering of the Jews under racism, both in Europe and in America. (Oregan Coast News Signal) read more here

'No Philippines or dog'

Reported by Rappler.com, a sign at a Beijing restaurant barring citizens of nations involved in maritime disputes with China -- along with dogs -- has triggered a wave of online outrage among Vietnamese and Filipinos.

The Beijing Snacks restaurant near the Forbidden City, a popular tourist spot, has posted a sign on its door reading "This shop does not receive the Japanese, the Philippines, the Vietnamese and dog(s)."

Photographs of the controversial sign have gone viral in Vietnamese-language forums and featured heavily in Philippine newspapers and websites on Wednesday, February 27.

Vietnam's state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper ran a story saying the sign had "ignited online fury". It claimed many Vietnamese feel this is another example of Chinese "extreme nationalism that deserves to be condemned".

"It's not patriotism, it's stupid extremism," Sy Van wrote in Vietnamese in a comment under the story, published on the paper's website.

The sign provoked thousands of posts on Vietnamese social networking sites and newspaper comment threads.

"This is teaching hate to the younger generation," Facebook user Andrea Wanderer wrote in Vietnamese. "The owner of the restaurant has obviously been brainwashed by their government," added Facebook user Chung Pham.

photo from personal.anderson.ucla.edu

Filipinos greeted the photo with a mixture of fury and amusement.

"Blatant racism at Beijing Restaurant," journalist Veronica Pedrosa wrote in one widely-shared tweet, while Facebook user Rey Garcia used a comment thread on a news site to retort: "Who cares, they almost cook everything, even foetus and fingernails."

With report from Rapller.com

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Who is Aquino’s adviser on Sabah issue?

Philippine President Benigno Aquino asks Sultan Jamalul Kiram III to withdraw his supporters from Sabah during a press briefing at the Malacanang Palace, in Manila, on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

On Sabah, President Aquino several times spoke of peace. Yet, the language he used reeks of arrogance that could only come from ignorance of the root of the issue.'

IN his Facebook wall, Cotabato-based Fr. Eliseo Mercado of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance in Notre Dame University yesterday said, "After the President's press statement on the Sabah issue, I am continued to be deluged with the question: 'Who is the adviser of the President on the Sabah issue?'

"Sagot ko: Ambot... baka ang Malaysian PM. From the tone and the content would show that he/she is either Malaysian or Malaysian-Philippine."

In his statement, which came on the second week of the standoff in Lahad Datu, a seaside village in Sabah, President Aquino several times spoke of peace. Yet, the language he used reeks of arrogance that could only come from ignorance of the root of the issue.

He described the cause that the Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III and his younger brother Prince Rajah Mudah Agbimuddin Kiram, who is the leader of the group in Lahad Datu as a "hopeless cause."

Addressing Kiram, Aquino said: "You are a leader of your clan, and every leader seeks the well-being of his constituents. These times require you to use your influence to prevail on our countrymen to desist from this hopeless cause."

Does this mean the Aquino government has given up the Philippine government's claim on Sabah?

In his statement, Aquino seemed not sure about the legitimacy of the Philippine claim which was initiated in the 1960's. He said: "This issue is complex: from the basis of our claim, to the question of the rightful heirs, and even involving the translation of documents from an era when our grandparents weren't even born."

Responding to the President's statement, Kiram III, though his daughter Princess Jacel Kiram, said: "Mr. President, what more proof do you want us to show that Sabah is ours?"

This standoff came about because the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu decided to do it their way after Malacañang snubbed Kiram's request for a meeting.

Aquino revealed this in his statement: "Let me say to Sultan Jamalul Kiram III: I have just been made aware that a letter to me, from you, was sent through OPAPP in the very first weeks of my term, when we were organizing the government. Unfortunately, this letter was lost in the bureaucratic maze. Let me make clear that there was no intention to ignore your letter. Knowing this now, will you let your mistaken belief dictate your course of action?"

Aquino also said, "The avenue of peaceful and open dialogue is still available to us. Let us therefore sit down as brothers to address your grievances in a peaceful, calm manner according to our laws and according to correct processes when your people arrive home."

Yet in the same statement he warned Kiram that his patience is running out:

"As President and chief executor of our laws, I have tasked an investigation into possible violations of laws by you, your followers, and collaborators engaged in this foolhardy act. May I remind you as well that as a citizen of the Republic, you are bound by the constitution and its laws.

"Among your possible violations is Article II Section 2 of the Constitution, which states that the Philippines renounces war as an instrument of national policy, the enabling law of which is Article 118 of the Revised Penal Code, which punishes those who "provoke or give occasion for a war...or expose Filipino citizens to reprisals on their persons or property."[1] Thus, you are now fully aware of the consequences of your actions."

"We have not yet reached the point of no return, but we are fast approaching that point."

To which Kiram stood firm: "As far as we are concerned, we haven't committed a crime."

But he also talked about peace: "The sultan of Sulu's action is a benevolent aspiration and not a violent reaction to fight."

Will the real diplomats please take over? (http://bit.ly/ZA6W5l)

Malaya

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