Hit squad vs Kirams a tall tale — Palace

From the Manila Standard Today (Mar 21): Hit squad vs Kirams a tall tale — Palace

The administration on Wednesday played down the likelihood that a Malaysian hit squad was in the country to assassinate Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III and the members and supporters of the royal family.

“Verification made by the intelligence community has yielded negative results so far. Verification is still going on, but off hand, the intelligence community is giving this report a very low probability,” said National Security Adviser Cesar Garcia.

Garcia said intelligence agents had checked the names of the people allegedly billeted at the Maxim’s Hotel at Resorts World in Pasay City but “came up with negative results.”

A source at the National Bureau of Investigation also told the Manila Standard that they had received no reports to support the sultanate’s claim of an assassination plot.

In a television interview, a spokesman for the Philippine National Police, Chief Supt. Generoso Cerbo Jr., said they, too, had not been able to verify any threats against the Kirams.

“Our policemen are regularly monitoring Kiram’s home,” Cerbo said.

On Tuesday, Abrahim Idjirani, spokesman of the sultanate, said a Malaysian colonel named Sunny Ng had entered the Philippines with four Malaysian commandos to kill the sultan and members of his family.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda criticized the Kirams for allegedly concocting the story of the Malaysian assassins.

“[This is] another tall tale coming from the Kiram family,” Lacierda said.

Lacierda earlier criticized the sultan’s daughter, Jacel, for providing the media a photograph of alleged Malaysian casualties in Sabah that turned out to be a photograph of Thai soldiers killed in 2007. Jacel later denied Lacierda’s claims, saying someone at the press conference had asked her to examine the photograph.

Garcia, while discounting reports of a Malaysian hit squad, said the government would not allow any harm to come to the Kiram family.

“The Philippine government does not tolerate assassins whether local or foreign, and it will proceed against any wrongdoers if and when the evidence warrants,” Garcia said in a text message.

Idjirani earlier said the Malaysian commandos enlisted the help of New People’s Army recruits from Quezon to carry out the assassination.

Idjirani said the information was relayed a Filipino lawyer whom he did not name but described as a legal counsel of Pastor Saycon, Kiram’s political adviser.

The lawyer was reportedly approached by a Malaysian businessman named Kenneth Lee to talk to the hit squad.

The Sulu sultanate said it has tightened security in the Kiram residence.

“We will be having our own security measures but of course we will let the police and military do their jobs to protect us. This is the proper time that President Aquino must show his sincerity in protecting his constituents,” Idjirani said, describing the assassination plot as “a very serious matter.”
In Malaysia, military officials dismissed the guerrilla tactics used by the sultan’s followers who remained in Sabah, the Malaysian state news agency Bernama reported.

The news agency quoted Army Field Commander Lt. Gen. Datuk Seri Zulkiple Kassim as saying the guerrilla tactics were no match to the tactics of the Malaysian security forces.
“This is proven by the 62 terrorists shot dead,” he said.

Armed Forces Chief Gen. Tan Sri Mohd Zulkifeli Mohd Zin said security forces fired mortar and heavy artillery before entering areas occupied by the sultanate’s forces.

“This tactic is used to ensure the safety of security forces and because of the challenging terrain including forest, swamp and farms. The terrorists who use snipers are familiar with these areas,” he said.

He said the sultan’s men used Garand and M-16 rifles, which could be used to snipe at targets from 550 meters.

Also on Wednesday, United Nationalist Alliance senatorial candidate Richard Gordon questioned the motives behind President Aquino’s first commemoration of the Jabidah Massacre on Corregidor Island.

Gordon said commemorating the bloodbath from 45 years ago was very suspicious and only appeared to be the government’s attempt at covering its blunder in handling the present issue in Sabah.

“Why is the government only celebrating it now? It’s been three years since President Aquino assumed the presidency and he could have started doing it on his first or second year,” Gordon said.

“The timing is very suspicious and awkward. Are we doing it now because we have a problem with Malaysia? Because the government committed a monumental blunder in the manner that the issue has been handled? Is the president trying to assuage the hurt of the people whose kin were killed in Sabah – this is why he is now trying to resurrect something that has not been proven?” Gordon said.

The former senator also slammed the President for sending out mixed signals in going to Corregidor to lead the commemoration rites.

He said President Aquino’s spearheading the commemoration constitutes an admission that the late President Ferdinand Marcos was really going to invade Sabah and the Aquino administration was now bending over backwards to placate Malaysia over the present standoff in the disputed territory.

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/03/21/hit-squad-vs-kirams-a-tall-tale-palace/