DFA: Police attache verifying situation of Pinoys in Sabah standoff


The Philippine Embassy in Malaysia has sent a police attache to clarify sketchy reports that a group of armed Filipinos had arrived in Sabah and engaged authorities in a confrontation.

Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said on Friday the information reaching Manila remained sketchy at this time.

"Iba-iba ang version na nakakalap natin. Ang sabi ng iba, hindi armado ... ang sabi ng iba arestado na," Hernandez said in an interview over radio dzBB.

He also said the Philippine embassy in Malaysia is still coordinating with Malaysian security and defense officials.

He also said the embassy's police attache has instructions to determine the "identities and circumstances" of what happened.

"Ang ating embassy nagpadala ng police attache sa lugar para alamin ang identities and circumstances ng insidente," he said.

Earlier reports on Malaysia's The Star online said the armed Filipinos were engaged in a standoff with Malaysian authorities in Lahad Datu in Sabah.

The reports said the armed Filipinos claimed to be descendants of the "Sultan of Sulu," and distanced themselves from armed militant groups in the Philippines.

"They have made known their demands while we have told them that they need to leave the country," police Inspector-General Tan Sri Ismail Omar said.

Ismail said the group merely demanded to be be recognized as the "Royal Sulu Sultanate Army" and that the subjects of the Sulu Sultan in Sabah not be deported to the Philippines.

However, he said negotiations were still ongoing as of late Thursday to get them to return to their country.

Malaysian authorities earlier said they are negotiating with the group to avoid bloodshed. - VVP, GMA News

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