Death sentence on Filipinos in Sabah not yet final – DFA


By MICHAELA DEL CALLAR
A Malaysian court’s death sentence on nine Filipinos who were involved in a bloody attempt to seize Sabah from Malaysia in 2013 is not yet final, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Friday.
In a statement, the DFA said the case will still be heard by the Federal Court of Malaysia, which is Malaysia’s Supreme Court, under automatic appeal.
“The Court of Appeal’s decision is not yet final,” the DFA said. “In the meantime, the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur is monitoring their case very closely.”
In February 2013, followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III deployed about 200 of his men, some of them armed, to Malaysian-controlled Sabah to press the royal clan's historical claim on the resource-rich territory, sparking weeks of deadly clashes with Malaysian forces.
The violence in Lahad Datu threatened to strain Manila's warming ties with Malaysia, which has been brokering the country's peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, as calls for the government to revive a long-shelved claim to Sabah emerged.
Malaysia launched armed offensives against the Filipinos to quell what they call an intrusion of Sabah, where it has exercised control for decades.
The attacks have killed dozens of Kiram's men while eight Malaysian security forces died in armed confrontations with the Filipinos.
On Thursday, the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya, Malaysia affirmed the decision of the High Court convicting nine Filipinos of the crime of waging war against the king.
It also overturned the High Court’s imposition of life imprisonment and imposed the greater penalty of death, but affirmed the acquittal of 13 Filipinos of various crimes related to treason and terrorism.
The DFA said the Philippine government has extended legal and other forms of assistance to all the defendants from the trial stage of their case up to the appeal, adding it will continue to extend assistance to them as their case progresses.  — RSJ, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

POPCOM, gagamit ng ‘digital platforms’ para pagtibayin ang mga ugnayang pampamilya

Mas pinalalawig ng Komisyon sa Populasyon at Pagpapaunlad (POPCOM) ang adhikain nitong pagpapalaganap at pagpapabuti ng pakikipag-ugnayan ng mga nakakatandang Pilipino sa kanilang mga anak na nagdadalaga at nagbibinata. Nitong Setyembre 21, ang POPCOM ay nagsagawa ng isang “parent-teen talk webinar” gamit ang Zoom, kung saan ang isang “interactive program” ang nagbigay ng naaayon na kaalaman at kasanayan sa mga magulang, habang tumulong ito sa mga anak na teenager na maabot ang kanilang buong potensyal. Hinikayat din nito ang mga nanay at tatay na sumali sa malayang usapan, lalo na sa mga usapin ukol sa sex at sekswalidad, na nakikitang makakatulong upang bumaba ang mga bilang ng mga pagbubuntis sa hanay ng mga kabataan. Maaaring mapanood ang webinar sa https://youtu.be/lZ9jrJCjYas. Ayon kay Ikalawang Kalihim (Undersecretary) Juan Antonio A. Perez III, MD, MPH, “ang webinar ay naging isang tagapag-simula at ‘padaluyan’ ng pag-uu
Read more

UP Diliman Professors Share Scientists’ Procurement Struggles at Senate Hearing

By Harvey Sapigao Senate hearing of the revised procurement law (Photo credit: Senate of the Philippines) College of Science (CS) Dean Giovanni Tapang held up a little white device as he finished his presentation. “This is a ₱150,000 component,” he described. “Isa lang gumagawa nito sa buong mundo, pero ang hirap pilitin sila na magregister sa PhilGEPS,” he continued, referring to the requirement that foreign companies must first register to the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) before they can sell products to local scientists. Marine Science Institute (MSI) Deputy Director Dr. Irene Rodriguez explained that the small device is a resin that filters metals in water. “May budget tayo,” she said, “pero ang problema ko ay ‘yung resin na ito.” This and other bottlenecks brought about by the procurement law, or the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184), slow down research and development in the country. UPD leaders were invited to the Senate he
Read more

Gaza war rages into fourth month as Blinken tours Middle East Adel Zaanoun with Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem, --- Agence France-Presse

The Israel-Hamas war raging in Gaza entered its fourth month on Sunday as the army again pounded the besieged Palestinian territory and US top diplomat Antony Blinken was back in the region seeking to avoid a wider escalation. Israeli airstrikes overnight and early Sunday killed at least 64 people in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory, said its health ministry. It said two journalists were killed when their car was struck. The ministry, medics, and witnesses identified them as Mustafa Thuria, a video stringer for Agence France-Presse, and Hamza Wael Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Gaza who earlier lost his wife and two other children in an Israeli strike. Israeli bombardment also claimed other civilian lives in the southern city of Khan Yunis and in the Rafah area near the Egyptian border, where many of the territory's displaced people have sought refuge, AFP correspondents reported. Relatives were mourning the dead at Khan Yunis' European Hospital, am
Read more