Claimed Sabah abuses may warrant Philippine troop entry, says lawmaker

Police personnel check the identity of passengers on a road leading to Kampung Tanduo, in Lahad Datu March 8, 2013. — Reuters picKUALA LUMPUR, March 16 ― The Philippines may be entitled to deploy troops to Sabah to rescue Filipinos allegedly in danger from a Malaysian operation to flush out Sulu gunmen there, according to a Philippine senator.

Philippine private broadcaster ABS-CBN News quoted Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago as claiming that the republics armed forces were allowed to rescue their citizens if Malaysia could not guarantee their safety, although international law barred the use of force.

“As much as possible, we want to avoid the use of force,” Santiago was quoted by ABS-CBN’s website as saying yesterday.

“But if this is the attitude of Malaysia ... then we shall avail of the exception,” said the former chair of the Philippine Senate’s foreign relations committee, adding that using force would be the Philippines’ last resort.

Both countries have agreed that it was within Putrajaya’s rights to defend its borders after appeals for negotiations were met with stubborn refusal from the Kiram clan that is laying an ancestral claiming on Sabah.

Santiago also condemned Malaysia’s use of fighter jets and air strikes to flush out the Sulu militants in Lahad Datu, Sabah, last week, saying: “It’s like using a scud missile to kill a fly.”

Reports of alleged extrajudicial killings by Malaysia’s security forces hunting for Sulu invaders in Sabah have triggered Philippine concern of a brewing humanitarian emergency as Filipinos fled the state for fear of reprisals.

No evidence of the human rights violations reported in Philippine media has been produced to date, with Putrajaya calling the claims a “fabrication”.

Last Wednesday, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III reportedly ordered government officials to stock up on food supplies and step up humanitarian support to Filipinos ― including illegal emigrants seeking better jobs ― who have started returning to the republic by the hundreds since last Friday.

Philippine lawmakers are now pressuring the Aquino administration to file a formal complaint with Putrajaya as allegations of abuse of Filipinos flood the country in the wake of the Sabah armed conflict, a local newspaper reported yesterday.

The Philippine senate has demanded its government to hold Malaysia accountable for possible human rights violations against the 800,000-strong Filipino migrant community in Sabah at the hands of local authorities, who are searching for a ragtag band of Sulu militants claiming ownership of the north Borneo state.

Bantilan Esmail II, a brother of Sulu “Sultan” Jamalul Kiram III, was quoted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer last Tuesday as saying that Malaysian authorities have allegedly been ill-treating Filipinos in Sabah long before the Sulu incursion began.

A total of 66 people were reported killed in the Sulu incursion as of last Tuesday, including 56 Filipino militants, eight Malaysian policemen and one Malaysian soldier, and a teenage boy of unknown nationality.