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Manila Bulletin devider devider Gov't will continue assistance to 9 Filipinos facing death for Sabah raid

Gov't will continue assistance to 9 Filipinos facing death for Sabah raid

Published Jan 16, 2018 05:21 pm

By Roy Mabasa

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Tuesday assured that the government will continue to extend assistance to the nine Filipinos whose death sentences were upheld by the Malaysian federal court in connection with the 2013 incursion in Borneo.

 In a statement, the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA) said all the accused have been assisted and represented by Datuk N. Sivanathan, an International Criminal Court-certified lawyer paid for by the Philippine government.

(MANILA BULLETIN) (MANILA BULLETIN)

 “The Philippine Government has extended legal and other forms of assistance to all of them (from the trial stage of their case up to the appeal), and will continue to extend assistance to them as their case progresses,” the DFA said.

 It added that the hiring of the Malaysian lawyer to defend the nine Filipinos were arranged by the Philippine embassy in Kuala Lumpur and paid for by the government in Manila through the use of the DFA’s Legal Assistance Fund administered by the OUMWA.

 Legal sources said one option that the Philippine government may explore is to seek “clemency” for the nine Filipinos.

 It may be recalled that on February 11, 2013, some 235 militants, calling themselves the “Royal Security Forces of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo” arrived by boats in Lahad Datu district in Sabah, Malaysia from Tawi-Tawi.

Some of them armed, the group locked themselves in Lahad Datu and claimed they were sent by Jamalul Kiram, one of the claimants to the throne of the Sultanate of Sulu, to “assert the unresolved territorial claim of the Philippines to Sabah."

After several weeks of failed negotiations, the Malaysian security forces launched a major operation to flush out the invaders from Sulu.

About 56 militants were killed on top of 10 Malaysian security forces and six civilians. The rest of the invading militants were either captured or escaped back to southern Mindanao.

 The nine were among the fighters captured.

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