Manila denies calling intruders 'terrorists'

Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario has denied a Bernamareport that Manila and Kuala Lumpur have agreed to label intruders who killed eight Malaysian security personnel in Lahad Datu and Semporna as ‘terrorists’.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported today that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Manila has clarified that Del Rosario had only concurred in describing the killings as “terroristic acts”.

Del Rosario (right) had met with Malaysian Foreign Affairs Minister Anifah Aman in Kuala Lumpur on Monday night.

Yesterday Bernama had quoted Anifah as saying: “Secretary Rosario agreed that this group should belabelled as terrorists.”
 
The two had discussed developments in Sabah, just hours before Malaysian security forces launched air and ground strikes to flush out the followers of self-proclaimed Sulu sultan Jamlul Kiram, who are bent on remaining Lahad Datu.

The Philippine daily reported that Del Rosario returned to Manila late yesterday afternoon.

Quoting the account of Philippine Ambassador Eduardo Malaya, who was present at the meeting, the DFA said the Bernama report “is out of context and the secretary (Del Rosario) did not label the Filipino group as terrorist”.

“In Semporna, there were alleged acts of terrorism. As reported by the Malaysian foreign (affairs) minister, after the police forces were lured into an ambush and killed, their bodies were brutally mutilated and desecrated,”  the DFA statement reads. 

“If indeed these atrocities were committed as reported to him, the secretary and the foreign minister both agreed that these were, at the very least, terroristic acts.”