Pinoys in Sabah standoff face Sunday deadline, food shortage


Food may be running out for a group of armed Filipinos who had engaged Malaysian authorities in a standoff in Sabah for the last two weeks, a Malaysian news site reported Sunday.

A report on Malaysia's The Star online said the "clock is ticking" for the group as it showed no sign of leaving peacefully as a 48-hour deadline extension was to end Sunday.

It also cited information the group led by Raja Muda Azzumudie, the brother of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, was "running short of food supplies" amid a tight cordon by Malaysian security forces.

The report indicated the group had been given until Sunday to give up. The Philippine foreign affairs department had asked for a deadline extension until Tuesday.

Malaysia extended the original deadline on Friday by 48 hours to Sunday.

The Star online said Azzumudie was reportedly in contact with Sultan Kiram, who told the group to stay put at the Sabah village to assert their claim of the land as part of a Sulu sutanate.

However, the Philippine and Malaysian governments had been trying to iron out a peaceful solution to the standoff. — LBG, GMA News

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