Kaban ni D_BystandeR: ANG PADAYONG PANAGBUGNO SA SABAH

Although now in possession of a legal brief on the country's Sabah claim, Malacanang said it wants the document subjected to further scrutiny and consultation before making its next  move. "So that report has to go through the process. The  concerned agencies affected, offices, etcetera, will have to provide comments," Aquino told reporters on the sidelines of  the celebration of the 5th anniversary of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines in Pasay City. A panel led by  Justice Secretary Leila de Lima prepared the report. "I haven't seen that. She (De Lima) said that she was giving it, the last time we met, the following day. Perhaps there are now 10 volumes, these are folders of about four to six inches thick of matters that need my attention," Aquino said. 

De Lima  said she submitted the report to Malacanang last Friday. Aquino said that at the moment, he was occupied with other concerns like beating the March 29 deadline for appointments as well as reviewing or hopefully signing into law more than 290 bills passed by Congress. At the DOJ, De Lima declined to divulge details of the report but said it tackles the strengths and weaknesses of the country's Sabah claim. "I tried to come up with a comprehensive study considering the historical and legal perspectives to answer the questions of will we have a strong case if we pursue this before an appropriate tribunal and what are the options in light of the current situation," she told reporters in an ambush interview. She explained that the President also would want to wait results of separate reports from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Benjamin  Caguioa. "There are complex matters we don't know if the President will refer it (DOJ report) to a group of independent experts," she pointed out. 

The country's Sabah claim had been dormant for years until followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III - many of them armed - sailed to the territory last month to stake their claim to the territory. Malaysian forces later moved to expel  them in a bloody crackdown that killed almost a hundred people and forced an exodus of thousands of Filipinos to Mindanao. In Davao City, Kiram's daughter Jacel Kiram said Malaysia is inviting a full-blown uprising with its bloody crackdown in Sabah.

"It's not just the royal sultanate force (RSP). The uprising isamong the locals of Sabah themselves. They are fighting the Malaysian government already." Kiram told reporters in a press briefing yesterday. Kiram pointed out that the arrest of her cousin Amirbahar Hushim Kiram and wife Gina showed that the Malaysians were becoming desperate. The couple were accused of bankrolling the activities of the Sultan's followers in Sabah led by Agbimuddin Kiram.