DFA: no comment on sultanate's plan to bring Sabah case to ICJ pending study results

From InterAksyon (Jan 6): DFA: no comment on sultanate's plan to bring Sabah case to ICJ pending study results

Pending the results of a Palace-directed study on the Philippines’ Sabah claim, the Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday declined comment on the reported plan of the newly installed Sultanate of Sulu to file a case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to seek a peaceful resolution on the oil-rich territory.

In a text message, DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said the DFA cannot comment on the plan of Sulu Sultan Esmail Kiram II to elevate the sultanate’s assertion of its historic title to Malaysia-controlled Sabah before the ICJ.  "We wish to reserve comment until the completion of said study," he said.

Several government agencies were earlier directed by President Benigno Aquino III to conduct a "comprehensive study" on Sabah, which became a battleground last year when hundreds of followers of the then-ailing Sultan Jamalul Kiram III sailed to Lahad Datu on a mission, they said, to reclaim their “homeland.” Malaysia poured air, land and naval forces into a weeks-long siege of the island. The violent dispersal by the Royal Forces resulted in a number of deaths on both the Malaysian security forces’ side and those of the followers of the late Kiram.

Last week, Kiram—who succeeded his brother Jamalul who died late 2013,  expressed willingness last week to negotiate with the Malaysian government on the sultanate’s Sabah claim, saying he wanted a peaceful and civilized resolution of the issue.

The Advisory Council of the Sulu Sultanate greenlighted this move almost a year after the sultanate's Royal Forces occupied Lahad Datu in Sabah.

The new sultan (Esmail)  also ordered legal experts to prepare the legal documents and inventory the historical documents in preparation for the case to will be filed before the ICJ.

Although Kiram said the sultanate does not need a representative from the Philippine government, he did ask for support in the case that will be filed before the ICJ.

The sultanate in the 60s had ceded to the Philippine government its right to negotiate with Malaysia and any other international tribunal, but after five decades of passive action by the government, had started to take matters into its own hands.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/78111/dfa-no-comment-on-sultanates-plan-to-bring-sabah-case-to-icj-pending-study-results