DFA ordered to relay Kiram concerns to Kuala Lumpur

Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—President Benigno Aquino III has ordered the Department of Foreign Affairs  to relay the concerns of the sultanate of Sulu to the Malaysian government in a bid to end the violence in Sabah, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said Tuesday.

At a news conference in Camp Crame, Roxas said he spoke with the President on Monday night, hours after he met behind closed doors with Sultan Bantilan Esmail Kiram II and other members of the Kiram clan.

However, the interior secretary declined to disclose details of his meeting with the President.

He also declined to say if he discussed the “disengagement” of the armed followers of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III from Sabah.

“It’s better for us not to talk about it because this is a very sensitive topic,” Roxas said.

Roxas led an inter-agency meeting to prepare for the possible exodus of undocumented Filipinos from Sabah.

Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman and Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala allayed fears of residents in Tawi-Tawi and Sulu that the Sabah crisis might lead to a sudden increase in the prices of basic commodities in Mindanao.