Kirams given till Friday to recall forces By Norman Bordadora Philippine Daily Inquirer 12:02 am | Thursday, February 21st, 2013 Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. INQUIRER.net/Noy Morcoso III CEBU CITY—Reelectionist Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV on Wednesday called on the Aquino administration to make known its policy on the country’s claim to Sabah and on the standoff between Malaysian security forces and a group of armed followers of the sultan of Sulu in the eastern Malaysian territory. The standoff in Tanduao village in Sabah’s Lahad Datu town has entered a second week, with Malaysian authorities saying on Wednesday that the situation is under control and that the Filipinos from Sulu will be deported soon. Emissaries from the Aquino administration are working quietly to convince Sultan Jamalul Kiram to recall his followers from Sabah. According to a highly placed source of the Inquirer in the Cabinet, Jamalul and his other brother, Bantilan Esmail Kiram II, must decide by Friday whether to call their followers home. On Wednesday, Esmail was going to see Jamalul, who is undergoing dialysis in a Manila hospital, to talk to him and make a decision, the source said. It is believed that the Malaysian government has given the sultan’s followers a deadline to leave or be rounded up and deported, but agreed to an extension of the deadline “by a few days” to allow the sultan and his family to reconsider their demand to stay in Sabah. President Aquino’s former backchannel link to Beijing at the height of tensions Read More …
