Year 2013 will be remembered as the Aquino Govt's anti-Filipino and anti-Philippine sovereignty year

And the latest shocker: The incompetence and the corruption continue! Mr Aquino and his agents played and are playing partisan politics as Tacloban and the rest of the Visayas 'burned' and continue to burn in the post Yolanda-Haiyan catastrophe.

By Anne de Bretagne
12 December 2013
for the Philippine Sabah Claim Forum

On the Philippine front: Year 2013 has been for me a most disappointing year.

Firstly, because whatever one says, Mr Aquino and many in his Govt of merry men gave up Panatag Shoal without batting an eyelash. The Philippine Navy until the reign of Mr Aquino had always fought to keep Panatag Shoal despite their meagre assets. In the 90s, the PN did not allow poachers in it and kept intruders in check. Today, we can say goodbye to Panatag Shoal. Yes, the Philippines has raised the issue to the United Nations but I am under no illusion that even if the UN verdict is in our favour, Panatag will not be returned to PH. Let's face it: China has succeeded in stationing themselves right in our EEZ and there's nothing much we can do about it because the man who is supposed to lead this country does not possess the moral courage and the mental acumen to lead and do something about it.

Secondly, the Sabah stand off showed the true colours of the President of the Republic by overtly siding with Prime Minister Najib and the Malaysian murderers of Tausugs who had gone to Sabah to stake their claim. Mr Aquino, in his bid to honour the memory of his father and his so-called promise to the Malaysians, wittingly left out the Tausugs in his hurry to form the Malaysia-engineered Bangsamoro with the MILF rebels.

Thirdly: Filipinos then discovered the massive corruption industry that's been keeping Philippine politics alive and thriving which is also known as the Pork Barrel Corruption industry! The industry is still thriving last time I read the news but just renamed: DAP.

Fourthly: And while PH was still reeling from the incredibly corrupt Pork Barrel Corruption industry shock, Filipinos began killing each other in the South. The President led the charge in killing Filipinos. I am convinced that the Zamboanga "stand-off" was an offshoot of this Govt's pro-Malaysia stand that saw the unecessary killings of our own.

And the latest shocker: The incompetence and the corruption continue! Mr Aquino and his agents played and are playing politics as Tacloban and the rest of the Visayas 'burned' and continue to burn in the post Yolanda-Haiyan catastrophe.

These are the major issues that haunt Year 2013 for me. Understandably, there are hundreds more of sub-issues but to list them down is just depressing so I prefer to limit the list to the above five. However, the year is not over and there remains a big question: Will there be any more anti-Filipino and anti-Ph sovereignty events or issues in store from the Aquino Govt for 2013?

~~~~O~~~~

HOW TO HELP SULUK FAMILIES WHO HAVE BEEN UNJUSTLY DEPORTED FROM THEIR HOMELAND BY KUALA LUMPUR

A photo report posted by Philippine Sabah Claim Forum member PManalo; caption reads: "repost from REACT Phil. June 25, 2013 @ 8:05 pm 116 deportees arrived @ Bongao Port, karamihan sa kanila ay menor de edad pa kasama na rin isang 2 kalahating taong gulang na bata at dalawa sa menor de edad na deportees nagkakaroon na ng deperensya sa pagiisip dahil ikunulong daw sila ng 100 days sa tawau sabah malaysia." Also posted on Sabah Claim Society community page. 

Muslim families in Sulu are in dire need of your help for the Tausugs and the Suluks who have gone and continue to go through the most horrendous experience following the Tanduo siege in Sabah. 

While our government is showing sympathy to our kababayans who are convicted of a crime in a foreign country and is taking drastic action to help save their lives, our Muslim families in Sabah are still suffering from the atrocities of Malaysian troops and police authorities without overt sympathy from the tenants of Malacanang.  

Many had been incarcerated and starved before deportation; many have died or been killed and will never see the shores of Sulu; others have left Sabah on their own to escape death. There is a vast number of Suluk "deportees" from their own Sabah homeland who need help. The forced and unjust "deportation" in the most inhuman circumastances has not stopped. Those who have luckily reached the shores of Sulu are in need of food and medicine. The sick, the wounded, the hungry need help. 

Raayat Bangsa Suluk, a charity group by the Kiram family of Sulu, has set up a group on Facebook. The group has just put up a Paypal account through which someone - especially located overseas, who wishes to help can send donation online. If you wish to donate in kind or in person, you can also go to their physical office address. 

Here's their PayPal Account: kiramn@yahoo.com

To donate locally and in person, here's a "how to do it" list from Fatima Shehan Kiram Idjirani of the Raayat Bangsa Suluk:

"If someone asks for our Org's address so they can send donations in kind, please refer them to 1) Address: Suite 2306 Cityland 10 Tower 2, H.V. Dela Costa Street corner Street Makati City 1226; and 2) please go to the Files Tab of this group page and forward to them the Donation Form. The form is much needed for auditing purposes. Thank you :)"

Anyone interested may also download a form from the group by clicking on the following Facebook link: Raayat Bangsa Suluk

Another organisation through which help to our Suluks families may be coursed is One World Institute, Inc., a non-profit organisation, headed by one of our compatriots, Yolanda Ortega Stern, who has been doing this silently for years now. This organization has provided livelihood programs for our people. If you have a Facebook account, please visit their Facebook page and "LIKE" it to know more. You can get more information from the page how to help. Link: One World Institute

Please visit their Facebook link to view page and "LIKE" it. There's some information about the organization and how it provides a livelihood program for the people there. Our compatriot, Yolanda Ortega Stern heads this organization and has been doing charitable projects silently without fanfare. But the organisation deserves to be noticed and those who can help may do so. 

Here's something we have copied and pasted from One World Institute:

One World Institute will be initiating a new pilot project in Sulu in Coconut Processing to help our OWI community earn money for their daily bread. They will grate and press the coconuts to sell the "sapal" and the cold squeezed virgin coconut oil. Filipino innovative technology for low cost production in an area that suffers lack of electricity, will be utilized. 

We will also be helping TechnoteBambooPhil promote their Bamboo project by encouraging growing bamboo wherever we can. They now have a nursery in Kidapawan, Cotabato. Rimmon Paren has trained and is ready. The OWI community will initially join in providing the bamboo to them. Seedlings are now for sale. 

To our partners, you can be an investor/partner or donate Php 55 K for a coconut processing machine. Or you can donate bamboo seedlings purchased in Kidapawan. 

OWI will provide the logistics and market for all the products, using our Seaweed Farm Associations as the model. The community owns the project, OWI manages, markets, and they get all the income. 

OWI does not charge administrative fees from any donations. What you give is what they get. 

Our Seaweed Farms continue to thrive. Hundreds of families are subsisting today on the income they derive from selling their dried seaweeds. More could be done for them if we had a processing plant for secondary processing. We will be experimenting with using the same machine to chop seaweed as well. 

OWI, AAI, and IPI will join again in the sharing of hypertensive medicines and books to hard hit areas where libraries perished during Pablo. Dengue is on the rise again. 

So join our Coconut Army, the Seaweed Navy and the Bamboo Brigade. Plant bamboo. 

Thank you to all our volunteers and partners as we change gears from wheelchair distribution to concentrate our scarce resources on old and new projects that help our communities put food on the table. We have listened to the OWI communities. "We cannot eat books" is a desperate commentary on the hard times. 

Join us one and all, in the projects that fill the heart. The difference is YOU. 

For more, click here.

NOTE BENE: We, the Admins of the Philippine Sabah Claim Forum, its Defenders community page and its sister sites on FB and on the worldwide web, would like to emphasize, that we are not in any manner connected to the above organisations and are in no way responsible for these organizations. We have posted the above sites on the Philippine Sabah Claim Forum and its sister sites on Facebook and in the Group's blogs in response to enquiries by some members on how they could help. The posts on how to help Suluks in dire need following their forced and unjustified deportation from Sabah are a PUBLIC SERVICE. Thank you.

~~ Administrators

• Philippine Sabah Claim Forum
• Defenders of the Philippine Sabah & Spratly Claims
• Sabah Claim Society

28 June 2013

Kris Aquino and the Sultan of Johor: President's sister "cavorts with the enemy", a very public slap to the Tausugs in Sabah

We agree that "It was insensitive of Kris Aquino to feature the Sultan of Johor at the time when the wounds of the February-March Sabah bloodfight have not healed and the root of the problem has not been addressed."

Our question: Was the meeting between Kris Aquino and the Sultan of Johor of a political or personal flirtation nature? Whatever it was, we believe that the meeting is sending all the wrong signals to the people Sulu, the Tausugs, the Suluks, the Sultanate of Sulu and the Filipino nation including to the political aparatchiks in Kuala Lumpur.

We frankly don't care even if she 'screws' or 'beds' all the sultans of Malaysia if she does it discreetly but what we do care about is that because she is the sister of President NoyNoy Aquino, a showbiz person in her own right, her very public move is a subliminal message from Malacanang to the Kuala Lumpur royalties and politicians that NoyNoy Aquino is officially paving the way for the giving up of the nation's sovereignty right over Sabah.

The country has an outstanding issue with Kuala Lumpur. Many of our countrymen were brutalised, and murdered by Malaysian troops in the recent Kuala Lumpur attacks on Lahad Datu. Many are facing prison sentences and even the death penalty in Malaysia. This callous move by Kris Aquino is like a slap to those Tausugs in Sabah who have been fighting for a piece of dignity. 

For President Aquino's sister to be seen "cavorting with the enemy" is really despicable in the extreme.

~~ Admins, Philippine Sabah Claim Forum
20 June 2013

Report below:

Kris Aquino and the Sultan of Johor
From  the Blog of Ellen Tordesillas

It was insensitive of Kris Aquino to feature the Sultan of Johor at the time when the wounds of the February-March Sabah bloodfight have not healed and the root of the problem has not been addressed. 

Tuesday’s feature of Kris TV was the Sultan of Johor, Ibrahim Ismail, a close friend of the Aquino’s. 

Kris related that her family’s closeness with the Sultan of Johor, Ibrahim Ismail, dates back to their Boston stay in the mid’80s. The Sultan was a student in the United States at that time. Internet search showed that he received military training in the US–at Fort Benning, Georgia and later at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. 

Kris said the image that she had of the Sultan during their Boston meetings was Ibrahim driving a Rolls Royce.

The Sultan showed off his collection of expensive cars, numbering 300. It is reported that the Johor Sultan and President Aquino share a passion for luxury cars.

Kris excitedly quipped while she was touring the Sultan’s air-conditioned garage, “I’ll show Noy the video and he’ll come.”

The Lahad Datu siege in March this year, which was precipitated by the decision of the Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III to press their ownership of a large part of Sabah, now one of the 13 states of Malaysia despite the claim of the Philippines over the oil and mineral rich territory , some three-fourths of it was given by the Sultan of Brunei to the Sultan of Sulu in 1704 as a reward for the latter’s help in suppressing a rebellion.

Early February, some 80 to 100 men led by Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram, brother of Jamalul Kiram III, arrived in the coastal village of Lahad Datu in Sabah and resisted attempts by Malaysian authorities to expel them. The fighting spread to the town of Semporna. One of the Malaysian policemen killed was L/Kpl Mohd Azrol Tukiran, a close friend of the Johor prince, Tuanku Laksamana Tunku Abdul Jalil, who is also a member of the Malaysian police.

A Malaysian newspaper reported that the Sultan of Johor wept over the policeman’s death saying the victim and his son” close friends and even slept next to each other during their police special forces training in Ulu Kinta in Perak.”

Link to original article: aquino-and-the-sultan-of-johor/

A matter of national honour or what is left of it: SND Gazmin must deny or admit his Malaysian counterpart claim PH Navy killed 35 Filipinos going to Sabah

A MATTER OF NATIONAL HONOUR OR WHAT IS LEFT OF IT

LATEST ON 35 DEAD: THE STORY IS BECOMING MORE SORDID EVERY MINUTE DESPITE PH NAVY DENIAL - WHAT IS PH GOVT DOING TO SHUT UP MALAYSIANS?

April, 29, 2013 - 6:32 pm: Sabah police back Malaysia defence minister Zahid Hamidi’s claim that Philippine Navy shot dead 35 alleged "intruders" going to Sabah (implying that PH Navy killed the Filipinos as a service to Malaysia Govt.)

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah police chief Hamza Taib has insisted that Malaysian intelligence reports have confirmed that 35 alleged intruders had been shot dead by the Philippine navy before they landed on Sabah soil.
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah police chief Hamza Taib has insisted that Malaysian intelligence reports have confirmed that 35 alleged intruders had been shot dead by the Philippine navy before they landed on Sabah soil. 

Link to news article: Sabah police backs Zahid Hamidi claim that PH Navy killed 35 Filipinos going to Sabah

So, where are we today on the 35 or 10 dead/killed by Malaysian Navy and dumped in Philippine waters if we are to believe the Sulu Sultanate spokesman?

Earlier on, the news that 35 Sulu fighters had been killed by the Philippine Navy was denied by the Sultanate. Upon closer investigation, and thanks to the efforts of Admin Marlene Damolo Howe of the Philippine Sabah Claim Forum to shed light on the very confusing and conflicting reports, we finally learned that people had indeed been killed.

Admin Marlene was told by no less than the Sulu Sultanate spokesman that reports have it that indeed there had been killings and those killed were civilians but that they were killed by the Malaysian Navy with the bodies dumped in Philippine waters, an action which, according to the Sultanate spokesperson, was done to implicate the Philippine Navy.

I just got off the phone with the Sulu Sultanate's spokesperson, Abe Idjirani. He said that whatever was reported on the paper regarding the 35 DEAD SULTANATE FOLLOWERS IS NOT TRUE! The Sulu Sultanate denied it and the Philippine Navy denied it. Why can't the Malaysian government stop lying?  

They are so hell bent in their propaganda that they think the world will be easily manipulated with constant LIES AND FALSE CLAIMS. What happened was that 10 civilians who have been living in Sabah for many years were suspected as Sulu Sultanate sympathizers.  

The Malaysian militants rounded them up and took them to the Philippine territorial waters to IMPLICATE THE PHILIPPINE NAVY AS THE ONES DOING THE KILLING. BUT THE FACT IS, IT WAS THE MALAYSIAN MILITANTS WHO KILLED CIVILIAN PEOPLE AND DUMPED THEM IN OUR WATERS SO THE WORLD WILL THINK OUR PHILIPPINE NAVY KILLED THEM.  

There was a witness who came forward and reported it to the RSF (Royal Security Forces) who then reported back to the Sulu Sultanate. This story corroborated the previous post I made yesterday after I talked to a member of the Royal family.  

I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT TRUE! THERE IS NO 35 DEAD BUT 10 CIVILIANS WERE KILLED BY MALAYSIAN FORCES TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE THE SULTANATE SUFFERED A GREAT LOSS AND THEREFORE, COVER UP THEIR INABILITY TO MATCH THE SKILLS OF OUR TAUSUG WARRIORS. WORST, THEY TRIED TO IMPLICATE OUR OWN PHILIPPINE NAVY. IT'S A DEVIOUS AND HARAM ACT BY ILLEGAL INTRUDERS, MALAYSIA!  

This ongoing human rights violation by Malaysia should not go unnoticed. Our people are being tortured and slaughtered and the world stood by. Worst, our own president is standing by, doing nothing!

~~ Admin Marlene, Philippine Sabah Claim Forum 27 April 2013  

Remember that at the beginning of these confusing reports, on 24 April to be precise, Malaysian defence minister himself had implied that PH Navy had done it as some kind of a 'favour', a 'service' to the Malaysian Govt to prevent possible disruption of their May 5th elections. In fact Hamidi, at a press conference on 24th April in George Town thanked:

Malaysia's Zahid Hamidi

"... the Philippine Armed Forces, particularly the Philippine Navy and Philippine Coast Guard which had given close cooperation to the Malaysian government, particularly the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) and the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM)."

So where are we at today? There were people who were killed, so we were told. Malaysia's defence minister placed it at the door of the Philippine Navy. He is implicating the Philippine Navy for the death of 35 Filipinos alleging that those killed were going to Sabah to disrupt Malaysian elections in Sabah scheduled on 5th May. 

There are dead people; a Malaysian minister implying that PH Navy had done Malaysia government a favour; virtual accusations of complicity proferred against the Navy by the same minister... yet, if not true, why has our government - rank to rank - not deemed it fit not to protest against the lies?

Shall we, again just look down in abject surrender while the direct assault on the already tattered integrity of our nation's navy? Could Malaysian defence minister's intel reports be true? 

Philipppines' Gazmin

There is no need to wage war against Malaysia but there is a need to seek the truth about who died and why they died, and perhaps, we may just raise ourselves from the abject position that Malaysian officials have pushed us in.

The task of belying Zahid Hamidi's - and Sabah police chief's - declaration that our Navy had killed Filipinos as a favour to Malaysian Govt falls on the shoulders of the former Commanding General of the President Security Battalion, a veteran of the Mindanao campaigns who later on became Commanding General of the Philippine Army and who now happens to be the top man at the department of national defence of the Republic... 

Yes, PH Secretary of Defense Voltaire 'Voltz' Gazmin must come out to either admit that the Philippine Navy had done it or to tell his Malaysian counterpart that what he says is a lie. Will he do it?

~~ AdB
For the Defenders of the Philippine Sabah and Spratly Claims
29 April 2013

Discussion going on at Philippine Sabah Claim Forum 

Link to news article: Sabah Police backs Malaysia Defence Minister Zahid Hamidi that PH Navy killed 35 Filipinos from Sulu going to Sabah to disrupt Sabah elections

Related posts: 

• Malaysia defence minister Zahid Hamidi insists that PH Navy killed 35 Filipinos going to Sabah 
• But what does stupid Zahid Hamidi gain by lying brazenly that PH Navy killed 35 Filipinos as a service to Malaysia Govt
• Malaysia defence minister Zahid Hamidi claims PH Navy shot dead 35 Filipinos going to Sabah 

Mr. President, there is no shame in standing by the Sultanate, by the Tausugs, by the Filipinos in Sabah

President Aquino, what have you done to protect and defend your people in Sabah?

Mr President, these people who are being chased like animals out of Sabah, their homeland, by Malaysians are your people too. They are Filipinos and warrant the protection and defence of the Republic.

Grim news: Malaysia subjects the Tausugs to further indignities...has PH Government found out whose remains they are?

Sabah News
Police To Check For Terrorist Remains In Kampung Tanduo
 
LAHAD DATU, April 9 (Bernama) -- Periodic checks will be conducted in Kampung Tanduo for the remains of terrorists from the militant group which invaded the village on Feb 12, said Sabah Deputy Police Commissioner Datuk Tan Kok Lian.

He said K9 dog units would be used to detect graves which may contain such remains.

"We will check the area because there may still be some bodies buried in the village," he said after surveying several locations in Kampung Tanduo near here Tuesday.

Police discovered three graves containing 15 bodies, including that of a woman, and removed them from the village yesterday.

Mr. President, there is no shame in standing by the Sultanate, by the Tausugs, by the Filipinos in Sabah... there can only be pride because they are your people too. You can unite the country by standing by your people in time of crisis.

Mr President, every child left orphan because Malaysian troops killed his/her father or both will ask you why you did nothing while foreign toops killed a member/members of his/her family. Are you prepared to face that child to explain why you turned your back while Malaysian harmed his/her loved ones?

~~ Defenders of the Philippine Sabah and Spratly Claims
19 April 2013 

Aquino Government's un-involved observer stance on Sabah claim by Filipinos - beyond comprehension

In her article "Reclaiming Sabah", Manila Standard Today columnist Linda V. Jimeno, rightly points out: 

"Why the government is taking the stance of an un-involved observer is beyond comprehension. When the sovereignty and dominion over the territory was transferred to the Philippine government by the Sultanate in 1962–which the government accepted as shown in its many overt acts–the government took on the responsibility of reclaiming Sabah and protecting Filipinos who initiate non-violent actions to revive the Philippine claim." 

Full article: 

Reclaiming Sabah Posted on Apr. 15, 2013 Manila Standard Today

In my column last week entitled “Legal basis for the Sabah claim,” I discussed how the Sulu Sultanate came to acquire North Borneo (Sabah) and exercise dominion and sovereignty over it, and how Malaysia  came to possess the territory. 

In this article, questions on what the Philippines has done to make an official claim over Sabah and how Malaysia responded will be discussed, culling from the booklet written by Prof. Emmanuel Q. Yap, founder of the People’s Patriotic Movement. 

When the Sulu Sultanate transferred by a legal instrument its dominion and sovereignty over Sabah to the Philippine government in 1962, did the government do anything to assert its ownership over Sabah? Yes. Even before the Federation of Malaysia came into being, the Philippine government, in 1950, advised the British government that it had a claim over Sabah. Too, the Federation of Malaya (not yet Malaysia) recognized that there was an Aide Memoire dated August 2, 1962 from the Foreign Affairs Department of the Philippines which reminded the Federation of Malaya that “Britain occupies the territory by the terms of the lease which, in no way, entitles the British government to claim ownership or sovereignty over the territory or to transfer it to any entity whatsoever.” 

The Federation of Malaya acknowledged this Aide Memoire by also handing an Aide Memoire to the Philippine Ambassador in Kuala Lumpur on October 3, 1962 stating that the government of the Federation of Malaya and the British government agreed that they would work towards a formal agreement for the transfer of the North Borneo territory (and Singapore) to the Federation of Malaysia. No such formal agreement was ever reached. Yet, Britain proceeded to include Sabah among the territories it transferred to Malaysia. 

On December 29, 1962, the Philippines and the United Kingdom announced an agreement to hold talks on the Philippine claim. Thus, from January 28 to February 1, 1963 the first Ministerial Conference on the Claims was held in London with then Vice President Emmanuel Pelaez heading the RP panel. 

Did not the Philippines object to the formation of the Federation of Malaysia on September 16, 1963 which included Sabah? Yes, it did, together with Indonesia which, in turn, was claiming Sarawak. Thus, then Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, Indonesian President Soekarno and Philippine President Diosdado Macapagal met in Manila in August 1963.  The Manila Accord of 1963 was signed where Malaysia agreed that the inclusion of Sabah in its Federation would not prejudice the Philippine claim. Malaysia acknowledged the right of the Philippines to pursue its claim in accordance with international laws and the United Nations principles of pacific settlement of disputes. 

From February 5 to 10, 1964, the first round of talks between Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia (known as the Maphilindo talks) was held in Bangkok. Around the same time, President Macapagal and the Malaysian Prime Minister met in Phnom Penh. The Tunku agreed to elevate the claim to the International Court of Justice and encouraged the Philippines to submit a memorandum detailing the basis of its claims. The foreign affairs ministers of the Maphilindo states held a second round of talks from March 5 to 6, 1964. Then in June 1964 the Philippines gave to Malaysia its memorandum, “Philippine Claim to North Borneo Vol. 1” as suggested by the Malaysian Prime Minister. 

What happened in the Maphilindo talks in Bangkok? The talks failed because Malaysia unilaterally rejected the Philippine claim to Sabah and then terminated the talks. In so doing, it arrogated unto itself the power of a judge while being a contending party in the dispute. The talks were held supposedly to agree on what modes of settlement, as provided in the Manila Accord of 1963, were acceptable to both governments. 

How significant are the meetings in London and in Bangkok to the Philippine claim? The London foreign ministers’ meeting was significant in that it gave the Philippine claim the status of a legitimate international dispute. On the other hand, the Maphilindo agreement to meet in Bangkok pursuant to the Manila Accord was significant in that it contained a reservation agreed upon by the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia that the formation of Malaysia would not prejudice the unresolved Philippine claim over North Borneo (Sabah). All three countries also agreed to settle the dispute by peaceful means such as arbitration. In effect, therefore, Malaysia accepted the existence of the legitimacy of the Philippine claim to Sabah. 

What is the effect of Malaysia’s unilateral termination of the Maphilindo talks in Bangkok? Malaysia violated several solemn agreements. One of them is the Manila Accord. Another is the agreement between the Philippine President and the Malaysian Prime Minister in Phnom Penh that the two countries would discuss the “best way of settling the claim, not precluding reference to the International Court of Justice.” Still another was the exchange of Communique between the two countries where both essentially agreed to discuss the best way to settle the claim. 

Should the Sultanate of Sulu be blamed for taking proactive action in reclaiming Sabah? The manner the Sultanate asserted its claim may not have been the proper and legal way but this writer will not go as far as blaming the Sultanate. The historical records speak for themselves. Why the government is taking the stance of an un-involved observer is beyond comprehension. When the sovereignty and dominion over the territory was transferred to the Philippine government by the Sultanate in 1962–which the government accepted as shown in its many overt acts–the government took on the responsibility of reclaiming Sabah and protecting Filipinos who initiate non-violent actions to revive the Philippine claim. 

E-mail: ritalindaj@gmail.com   Visit: www.jimenolaw.com.ph

Related blog posts:

The Most Beautiful Defence of the Philippine Sabah Claim

Signing of the Manila Accord

Government must not confuse itself on who is who in the Sulu Sultanate

Commentary by retired Ambassadors Baja and Lavinia

Senator Salonga warns Senator Sumulong

Should the Aquino Government now kill the Sabah claim to appease Malaysia?

Who will be the next Hadji Kamlon, Tausug warrior-leader, to lead the battle in Sabah?

HISTORIANA: The story of Tausug warrior Hadji Kamlon

Hadji Kamlon was a Moro and former WW2 guerilla hero who fought the Japanese and who, from 1948 to 1955, led a rebellion against the national government. 

He was considered by the Philippine military as the biggest threat to national security and a bandit to be feared but to the Tausugs, Kamlon was a folk hero, a local Robin Hood. He gathered a band armed with WW II rifles and pieces of the BAR (Browing Automatic Rifle) that could fire 20 bullets in one burst. 

Even with their heavy army tanks which rolled into the heart of the city daily, the military was still outdone by Kamlon, who had the support of the local population.
The exact cause for Kamlon’s rebellion had not been established but economic factors had been frequently blamed although conflict among local leaders contributed to it. 

For almost 4 years the government engaged Kamlon and, during the final assault, 5,000 ground troops were utilized along with naval, air and mortar supports. Logistical expenditures, after the final inventory, amounted to P 185 million. Despite all this cost, Kamlon could not be routed or captured. He finally gave up conditionally due to advancing age.

Elusive Bandit or Local Robin Hood?
Sulu Sea was said to be terrorized by a band of pirates headed by notorious “bandit leader” Kamlon who carried his piratical forays with his men up to Borneo where he attacked merchant vessels fleecing the ship and its passengers of their belongings. 

The “bandit chieftain” eluded arrest for more than three years almost upsetting the military budget hunting him down in the vastly scattered islands of the Sulu Archipelago. He was feared for his ability to disappear like a mist before the soldiers very eyes. Kamlon used both talisman (anting-anting) and automatic rifle to confront the old Philippine Constabulary (PC), AFP battalion, and the Air Force. His hidden island and jungle fortresses were legendary.

To the inhabitants of Sulu, Kamlon was loved and revered. He considered a local Robin Hood who looted from the rich and gave it to the poor. Like the mythical Robin Hood, the poor islanders who felt neglected by the national government saw Kamlon as their savior.

Even when the military intensified its campaign appealing to the island inhabitants to help government in the capture of Kamlon, the Moro villagers were tight lipped and uncooperative. No amount of huge prizes and rewards offered to those who could lead to the capture of the elusive bandit leader even by just identifying him could convince the natives to cooperate. The only answer the troopers could get in their query was “diih” that means “no” or “bukon” meaning “not him or not the one in the picture.”

Magsaysay and Kamlon
An article published in Time Magazine in August 11, 1952 entitled The Philippines: Peace Under the Palms, relates the meeting of Philippines Defense Secretary Ramon Magsaysay and the infamous Kamlon. Magsaysay was said to have a secret meeting with one of the toughest Moros of all—clever, poker-faced Bandit Leader Kamlon. Kamlon, leader of the most formidable of the scores of Moro bands that terrorize Jolo, finally sent feelers to imperial Manila with this message: He wanted fair treatment for his "people" and his family. He did not ask for financial rewards. If granted verbally, he would surrender.

First came a small boat from ashore with tokens of Kamlon's sincerity—baskets of fruit, to show friendship, and Kamlon's six-year-old son, to inspire confidence. Next came Bandit Kamlon himself, insistent on the pageantry for which the Filipino Mohammedans have always had a weakness, to request a formal surrender ceremony beneath the palms of Lahing-Lahing beach.

Some 200 of Kamlon's followers were already there, revolvers and rifles much in evidence and their sashed waists sagging with an assortment of bolos, barongs, krises and daggers.Their youngsters darted happily across the sand with knives at their sides, and their womenfolk stood near in the holiday splendor of pink, yellow, and apple-green clothes. Among them was Kamlon's faithful wife —some of the Moro leaders have as many as 80, but he is content with one. Kamlon, a peaceful farmer who had become something of a hero for killing Japanese during World War II, turned to banditry as a postwar vocation.

Solemnly chewing betel nut, he walked to Magsaysay, handed over his two pistols and a symbolic stack of 24 firearms, including BARs, carbines and old Japanese guns. 

In smooth tau-sog, Kamlon pledged the help of his band of 300 in Magsaysay's new campaign to quell the Moros, who are second only to the Communist Huks in defiance of Manila's rule. In English, Magsaysay praised Kamlon's guerrilla fight against the Japanese and promised him possible clemency, even offered to help Kamlon make the pilgrimage to Mecca. 

Then came the feast—mountains of eggs, crabs, shellfish, washed down with beer, and a skittish sip of the strange brown beverage (Coca-Cola) brought for the occasion by Magsaysay.

Magsaysay asked Kamlon to surrender, stand trial and serve time in prison. He also granted the few conditions Kamlon had asked. Kamlon was tried and stayed a few months in prison before pardon was granted by Magsaysay. 

In Manila, the news media called him a little bandit who terrorized Sulu islands for years. But Magsaysay viewed the situation differently, and without the advice of the so-called experts in geopolitics. Magsaysays promise to Kamlon was not "notarized" and did not resemble an executive agreement or treaty.

Magsaysay and Kamlon became friends. They also lived by their words. For years there was peace in the whole of Sulu archipelago that included Tawi-tawi, that was not a separate province in Kamlon's time.

~~ Posted by Defenders of the Philippine Sabah and Spratly Claims
13 April 2013


Source: Wiki Philippines

TIME ARTICLE:
The Philippines: Peace Under the Palms. Aug. 11, 1952 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,857310,00.html

For being "illegal", Filipinos in Sabah are beaten, jailed by Malaysian police before deportation

There are those who still believe that Malaysians are kind to Filipinos in Sabah. Think again. 

Standard Operational Procedure in Sabah: Filipinos who are considered illegal in Sabah are given rattan cane lashings -- and often coupled with a jail sentence -- before they are "deported" from their own homeland and this has been going on for years. Yet, not a squeak to protest this abominable practice has been heard from successive leaders of the Republic.

We know first hand that the ONLY "crime" of many of those Filipinos who were given rattan cane lashings and jail sentence before final deportation was that they had gone back to Sabah and were caught after they had been deported by Malaysian police once or twice before.

~~ Admins, Defenders of the Philippine Sabah and Spratly Claims
13 April 2013

SAYS PROBE BODY:‘Malaysian cops beat Filipino deportees’Agence France-PresseFirst Posted 15:37:00 10/04/2008Filed Under: Labor, Migration, Human Rights, Crime, Laws 

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines -- Illegal Filipino workers expelled from Malaysia's Sabah state have been severely beaten by police, a fact-finding body said Saturday. 

Thousands of Filipinos, including women and children, remained in Malaysian detention centers "and suffering from inhumane conditions," said Luzviminda Ilagan, a member of the Philippines House of Representatives and of the Fact-Finding Committee on Sabah Deportees. 

"Filipino detainees and those who were already deported to the Philippines have experienced severe beatings from Malaysian police while under detention," she told reporters in the southern port city of Zamboanga which serves as the transit point for deported Filipinos. 

Ilagan urged the government to provide the deportees with aid to ensure they would not return as illegals to Sabah. 

She also pushed for a House-level inquiry into the alleged abuses by Malaysian police. Malaysia announced a fresh crackdown on illegals early this year and thousands of Filipinos have been deported since. 

The committee, composed of the Association for the Rights of Children in South East Asia, Migrante International, and Gabriela Women?s Party, was formed to investigate alleged human rights abuses against undocumented Filipino workers and immigrants in Sabah. 

The state, which lies between the Philippines to the north and Indonesia's Kalimantan to the south, is a magnet for immigrants who work on construction sites and oil palm plantations. 

Malaysian authorities say 130,000 illegal migrants are in Sabah but local politicians put the figure as high as 500,000. 

According to the Philippine government, an estimated 200,000 Filipinos are living and working in Malaysia without valid visas and nearly 3,000 are in jail waiting to be deported. 

Link to story: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20081004-164605/Malaysian-cops-beat-Filipino-deportees

Filipino Tausugs from Jolo, Sulu to the rescue of beleaguered Tausug and Suluk fighters in Sabah

A screen capture of TV news coverage lifted from Philippine Sabah Claim Forum

The Filipino Tausugs have always been known for their courage since time immemorial. Kuala Lumpur politicians do not begin to understand that they are in trouble and they are in it for the long haul.

Despite the strange collaborative arrangement between Malacanang and Putrajaya to the effect that a naval blockade was organised to stop Filipino Tausugs from Mindanao going to the rescue of their belleaguered fellow fighters in Sabah, re-enforcement was able to slip through. 

'Cavalry' is on the way with re-enforcement for the Filipino Tausug group fighting in Sabah against foreign occupation that's embodied by greedy Peninsular Malaysia politicians and their Malaysia troops who are about to be tested in a protracted warfare. 

Another good news: Battle is also being waged for Supreme Court attention

"...taxpayer Louis Biraogo filed with the Supreme Court of the Philippines a 17-page petition for writ of mandamus, urging the high court to order Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Del Rosario to elevate the claim to the International Court of Justice in the Hague.  

"Biraogo also hit Malacanang: “Instead of helping the Filipinos who went to Sabah, the Philippine government threatened them with legal action in Philippine courts. Worse, President Noynoy Aquino (P-Noy) concurred in the decision of the Malaysian government to brand as terrorists the Filipino supporters of the Sultan of Sulu who went to Sabah.”

ON SABAH: CAVALRY IS ON THE WAY!

FINALLY SOME GOOD NEWS ABOUT SABAH: Cavalry is on the way!

MNLF spokesman Emmanuel Fontanilla confirmed that armed men have arrived in small batches in Sabah.

As Kemal Attaturk said, "Sovereignty is not given, it is taken!" 

Kuala Lumpur will curse the day they killed the Filipino Tausugs in Tanduo...

Handout file photo of Malaysian soldiers
patrolling Sungai Nyamuk, a village adjacent to
Kampung Tanduo where troops stormed the camp
of the armed Filipino group, in Lahad Datu,
Sabah on March 12, 2013. — Reuters pic

REPORT: 1,000 fighters slip into SabahBy Perseus Echeminada (The Philippine Star) | Updated April 8, 2013 - 12:00am 

MANILA, Philippines - An additional 1,000 armed men from Tawi-Tawi and Sulu have slipped into Sabah and joined the followers of Agbimuddin Kiram to fight Malaysian security forces, a source from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) said yesterday. 

The source said the armed men arrived in small groups to evade the Philippine and Malaysian naval blockade. 

MNLF spokesman Emmanuel Fontanilla confirmed thousands of Tausugs has began preparing since the outbreak of hostilities between the royal sultanate army of Kiram and Malaysian forces. 

“As per information, the armed men arrived in small batches,” he said. 

It was not known, however, if the armed men joined the fighting in Lahad Datu but last week the sultanate of Sulu said at least 100 heavily armed men have rejoined the group of Kiram on the outskirts of town. 

It was learned that the 100 men were now part of the 1,000 armed followers that joined Kiram, also known as raja muda or crown prince, in various parts of Sabah.

Sultanate spokesman Abraham Idjirani last week revealed Kiram had called him up to report that new arrivals joined his group in the ongoing battle with Malaysian forces in Lahad Datu. 

Link: http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2013/04/08/928171/1000-fighters-slip-sabah