Nothing final about findings on Sabah standoff – NBI

MANILA, Philippines – National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Nonnatus Rojas clarified on Wednesday, May 5, that its report on the Sabah incursion by Sulo Sultan Jamlul Kiram III was not yet the final and official version that will be submitted to President Benigno Aquino III.

Rojas made the clarification after media reports came out (not on Rappler) that the NBI had recommended the filing of criminal charges against Kiram and 38 of his followers.

Rojas said the NBI’s report will still be consolidated with those from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors. The NBI is under the DOJ.

“Nothing is official yet, since we will come up with a final joint report,” Rojas said.

On Tuesday, NBI Deputy Director for Regional Operations Virgilio Mendez said that they had submitted their report to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. De Lima earlier announced that it is up to President Benigno Aquino III to release the findings to the public.

In Feburary 2013, about 80-100 followers of Kiram, who claimed to be a “descendant of the Sultan of Sulu,” were cornered by Malaysian authorities in Sabah on Borneo Island. The group demanded to be recognized as the Royal Sulu Sultanate Army and insisted that, as subjects of the sultanate, they should be allowed to remain in Sabah.

Sabah, located in the island of Borneo close to southwestern Mindanao, has been territorially disputed by the Philippines and Malaysia.

Kiram’s group staged the operation to stake their claim on Sabah but the Philippine government maintained that the territorial dispute should not be resolved by taking up arms.

MNLF involvement

It was earlier reported that Nur Misuari, who founded the Moro National Liberation Front in the late 1960s, confirmed “freedom fighters” from his group were part of the militia sent by a self-proclaimed sultan to claim the Malaysian state of Sabah.

“I cannot deny that some of them are known to be MNLF freedom fighters,” Misuari said.

The MNLF had fought for an independent state in the southern Philippines, while also claiming Sabah state as part of their ancestral homeland.

The group signed a peace pact with the Philippine government in 1996, which created a Muslim autonomous region in the south, and set aside the claim over Sabah. – Rappler.com