The Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be the government agency to decide on an appeal by the Philippines to extend the deadline for the Sulu royal followers to leave Sabah, the Home Ministry said Saturday.
Despite the potential threat to the peace process in Mindanao that it supports, the United States is staying away from the Sabah crisis, as it is a problem that only the leaders of the Philippines and Malaysia can deal with.
Malacañang on Friday appealed to Sultan Jamalul Kiram III and his family to reconsider its decision not to recall his armed followers from Sabah, warning of further “deterioration” of the two-week standoff if the followers refuse to leave Lahad Datu town on Friday, the deadline set by Malaysia.
Malacañang on Friday expressed reluctance to meddle in the reported incursion in Sabah of an armed group of 100 Filipinos who identified themselves as the “royal army” of the Sultanate of Sulu in southern Mindanao.
Malaysian security forces have surrounded armed intruders on Borneo who are believed to be from the southern Philippines, police said Thursday.
The Department of National Defense (DND) sees no problem with a Chinese fisheries ship as long as it stays in international waters, its spokesman said Friday.
The Philippines and China agreed Friday to set aside their diplomatic protests to end a tense standoff in the disputed South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) but each side was still refusing to remove its ships from the disputed area, the top Filipino diplomat said.
One of three Chinese vessels pulled out of Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal, Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary and Spokesman Raul Hernandez said Friday.
