Sabah – ellen tordesillas

Centerlaw: Documents belie De Lima’s claim of misinformation

Published by Ellen on April 8, 2015

Statement of the Prof. Harry L. Roque Jr., chair of the Center for International Law (Centerlaw), an NGO dedicated to the promotion of binding international legal norms in the Philippines and Asia:

“We take exception to the veiled threat in the statement made yesterday by Secretary Leila De Lima that the Vera Files special report on a recent Note Verbale given by the Philippines to Malaysia over the Spratlys islands concerned a confidential matter that should have been kept as it is.

“In the first place, our Justice Secretary should be first to know that such a threat is in the nature of prior restraint with a chilling effect on speech, as held by the Supreme Court in the case filed by the late former Solicitor General Francisco Chavez against a predecessor of hers at the DOJ, the late Raul Gonzales.

“A mere press statement of a threat of prosecution coming from a government functionary, according to this 2008 Supreme Court decision, is unconstitutional precisely for that reason.

De Lima will not see what she doesn’t want to see

Published by Ellen on April 7, 2015

Now that the Department of Foreign Affairs’ willingness to downgrade the country’s claim to Sabah to strengthen its case against China before the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal has been exposed, it is resorting to the classic diversionary tactic- questioning the journalists’ motives in writing the report.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima now comes to the aid of the DFA.

De Lima has been quoted in several reports as having said that VERA Files’ March 30 story “PH offers Sabah to win Malaysia’s support for UN case vs China” is a “misinterpretation.”

DFA is misleading public in Sabah for Spratlys issue

Published by Ellen on March 31, 2015

Disclosure: I am one of the trustees and writers of VERA Files, a group of veteran journalist who put out articles that take a deeper look at current issues.

Last Monday, VERA Files released a story, “PH offers Sabah to win Malaysia’s support for UN case vs China.”
The article said, “ The quid pro quo was contained in a note verbale the Department of Foreign Affairs handed to a representative of the Malaysian Embassy last week, a week after the visit of Malaysian Defense Minister Dato Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.

“The note verbale, a copy of which was obtained by VERA Files, referred to the May 6, 2009 joint submission by Malaysia and Vietnam to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) in which Malaysia claimed an extended continental shelf (350 nautical miles from baseline) that was clearly projected from Sabah.

PH offers Sabah to win Malaysia’s support for UN case vs China

Published by Ellen on March 30, 2015

By Tessa Jamandre,VERA Files

The Philippines has offered to downgrade its claim on Sabah in exchange for Malaysia’s support for its case against China before the United Nations.

The quid pro quo was contained in a note verbale the Department of Foreign Affairs handed to a representative of the Malaysian Embassy last week, a week after the visit of Malaysian Defense Minister Dato Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.

No talk of Sabah in Aquino-Najib meet Feb. 27

Published by Ellen on February 16, 2014

By Tessa Jamandre, VERA Files President Aquino and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak are set to meet in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 27, when Aquino…

Kris Aquino and the Sultan of Johor

Published by Ellen on June 18, 2013

Sultan of Johor shows Kris Aquino his car collection

It was insensitive of Kris Aquino to feature the Sultan of Johor at the time when the wounds of the February-March Sabah bloodfight have not healed and the root of the problem has not been addressed.

Tuesday’s feature of Kris TV was the Sultan of Johor, Ibrahim Ismail, a close friend of the Aquinos.

Kris related that her family’s closeness with the Sultan of Johor, Ibrahim Ismail, dates back to their Boston stay in the mid’80s. The Sultan was a student in the United States at that time. Internet search showed that he received military training in the US–at Fort Benning, Georgia and later at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Civil society takes Malaysia to UN for maltreatment of Filipinos in Sabah

Published by Ellen on April 1, 2013

By Ellen Tordesillas, VERA Files

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. Photo from kualalumpurpost.net

Concerned citizens are hauling the Malaysian government to the United Nations for human rights abuses against Filipinos in Sabah, even as they criticized the Philippine government for lack of outrage and action.

Concerned groups and individuals are filing Monday urgent appeals with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay and UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, both based in Geneva, Switzerland.

In their letters, the civil society groups asked the two UN agencies to “urgently intervene so that Malaysia will respect the human rights of the Filipinos in Sabah, recognized under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

Agonizing moments at the DFA over Sabah

Published by Ellen on March 31, 2013

Malaysia arrests Filipinos Photo By BAZUKI MUHAMMAD REUTERS Wed, Mar 6, 2013 From Yahoo.

When some 30 concerned citizens met before the Holy Week to discuss the appeal to the United Nations for help for Filipinos in Sabah who are being maltreated by Malaysian authorities, they decided they would do it as private citizens and not waste their time getting the support of the Philippine government.

Of course, the petition would have carried more weight if it were the government seeking international intervention for its people, which should be the case because the government exists for its people.

In fact, it is in the Constitution’s Declaration of Principles and State Policies that (Art. II, Sec. 4) The prime duty of the Government is to serve and protect the people.”

Aquino upset by DFA statement on Malaysia’s human rights violations

Published by Ellen on March 15, 2013

Fleeing residents of Tanjung Labian flee their village in the area where Filipino gunmen are locked in a stand off with Malaysian security forces in Sabah state on March 10-2013. AFP-News Mohd Rasfan. From Yahoo.
In the press conference of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima in Malacañang yesterday on the arrest of 35 armed men from Sabah, she was asked why the government is quick on acting against the people associated with the Lahad Datu standoff and is not acting on reports on maltreatment by Malaysians of Filipinos in Sabah.

De Lima justified the glaring difference in their reactions to the fact the armed men believed to be members of the Royal Security Force of the Sultan of Sulu were intercepted by the Philippine Navy in the high seas of Tawi-Tawi with firearms and deadly weapons which is a violation of the Comelec gun ban.
She skipped the second part of the question and the reporter did not follow it up.

Reliable information we got from Malacañang explains why De Lima, formerly chairperson of the Human Rights Commission, kept quiet on the issue of gross human rights violations by Malaysia against Filipinos in Sabah.

Malaysia treats the Philippines like dirt and Malacañang takes it timidly

Published by Ellen on March 10, 2013

Malaysian police brutality Photo By BAZUKI MUHAMMAD REUTERS Wed, Mar 6, 2013 — Photo By BAZUKI MUHAMMAD REUTERS Wed, Mar 6, 2013. From Yahoo

Malaysia treats the Philippines like dirt and Malacañang takes it with hardly a whimper.

News reports relate the harrowing experience of Filipinos under the hands of Malaysian security forces who are conducting a sweep of the Sabah to capture the forces of Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram, younger brother of Jamalul Kiram III and one of the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu, who was given Sabah by the Sultan of Brunei in 1878 as a reward for helping suppress a revolt.

Sabah became part of Malaysia as a result of questionable decisions by a British company and the United Kingdom.

A report by Inquirer’s Julie Alipala and Karlos Manlupig quoted 32-year old Amira Taradji, one of those who fled Sabah last week, as saying, “We’re treated like animals.”

Tag: Sabah