Sulu sultan meets with CBCP head

Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III gestures during an interview by Malaysian journalist in his residence in Maharlika Village in Taguig City INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The titular head of the Sultanate of Sulu, who had ordered 200 of his followers to occupy a village in Sabah to assert their ancestral land claim to the resource-rich region, met with the head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines on Monday afternoon.

Sultan Jamalul Kiram III arrived at the CBCP offices shortly before 3 p.m. Monday for a meeting with CBCP officials led by its president Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma.

Kiram was accompanied by Pastor Boy Saycon, a known political advocate and activist who has expressed sympathy for the cause of the sultanate.

An estimated 60 of Kiram’s followers have reportedly died in the Malaysian government’s assault on the Sabah intruders. Kiram’s brother, Agbimuddin Kiram, who has been leading the sultanate’s followers in their occupation of a Sabah village, is still being hunted by Malaysia’s security troops.