No movement from Kiram followers, says military

MANILA, Philippines - The military has not monitored any movement from the followers of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, who died last Sunday, that would compromise national security.

“We haven’t seen any overt act. Until there is an overt act, that’s the only time we will respond to it appropriately,” Armed Forces public affairs chief Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala said in a press briefing.

Zagala said there are no massing up of armed men and other actions that could affect national security.

The sultan died of multiple organ failure and his body was brought to the family house near the Blue Mosque in Taguig City. The sultan was later buried in Sulu.

Before he died last Sunday, Kiram asked his two brothers to pursue their claim over Sabah, an area they consider as part of the Sulu sultanate.

Malaysian police, however, believe Kiram’s death will not ease the threat posed by his group to Malaysia.

Malaysia’s The Star Online quoted Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib as saying that Malaysian security forces “would continue to be on the alert for any intrusion.”

President Aquino said yesterday that there was not much progress regarding the Sabah claim.

The Sabah claim is an issue that the Philippine government prefers to be dormant due to its relations with Malaysia, which is brokering peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Aquino told reporters after an event in Parañaque City that the first study done by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima considered four avenues that could be explored.

“Unfortunately, three of them are non-starters. The fourth one, compensation – that might be a position that has possibility, increased compensation,” Aquino said.

But Aquino said they were not ready to release the study on that aspect because it was being looked into by a bigger body.

He said this body would review “both the complete documents and incomplete wordings and phrases within all of these documents.”

Kiram, who ran but lost in the 2007 senatorial elections, was the acknowledged leader of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo.

– With Perseus Echeminada