Senate bet pledges to raise fund for jailed Kiram supporters

MANILA, Philippines - Former Tarlac governor and opposition senatorial bet Margarita “Tingting” Cojuangco on Wednesday pledged to raise funds for the legal defense of Filipinos who were arrested by Malaysian authorities in Sabah in relation to the incursion made by the Royal Security Force of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo.

Cojuangco, who is running for senator under the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), made the pledge in a visit to the residence of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III at the Maharlika Village in Taguig City.

“The sultan asked me to come here in order to share with him the importance of helping Filipinos who are imprisoned in Sabah. They have no lawyers,” Cojuangco said.

Cojuangco said that she feels close to Filipino Muslims having spent some 26 years in the five provinces of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) while finishing her History and doctorate degrees. Cojuangco added that she has been a close friend of the Kiram family.

Aside from raising funds for the legal aid of the arrested suspected supporters of the Sultanate in Sabah and Tawi Tawi, Cojuangco said she also intends help in the documentation of Filipino refugees who were displaced by the fighting in Sabah between the Malaysian security forces and the RSF.

“I have become very close to many Muslim brothers.  So nung tinawagan ako ni Sultan, I came here. It is also my concern. Maraming Filipino ay still imprisoned in Sabah. Yung iba naman (refugees) they want to go back to Sabah,” she said.

“The sultan believes that he needs someone he could trust. We will help those here to be documented so they could go back to North Borneo and Sabah which in 1685 was actually given to the Sultan of Sulu,” she added.

Cojuangco stressed the need to have the almost 850 refugees documented so that they could return back to Sabah later for work.

“We are only adding to the three million here who are jobless. It would take many years for them to be re-integrated here. I will help them get documented so they could go back to Sabah,” she said.

Cojuangco said she intends to tap the assistance of the Bureau of Immigration and the Department of Foreign Affairs in the documentation process.  According to Fatima Cecilia Kiram, wife of Sultan Kiram, many of those deported from Sabah arrived in the Philippines without birth certificates.

“The government should hasten to issue them Philippine passports,” said Mrs. Kiram.

According to Cojuangco she intends to raise P500,000 from donations for the legal assistance of Filipinos arrested in Sabah and in Tawi Tawi on suspicion that they are RSF fighters.

“We now have a pool of volunteer lawyers. But the funds are just not enough for their food and transportation needs,” she said.

Meanwhile, Cojuangco also expressed support for the reported plan of President Aquino, her nephew, to hold a dialog on the resolution of the ongoing Sabah standoff.

“He (President) has already asked for a dialog. I am in favor of that dialog,” she said.

Cojuangco however stressed that should a dialog on the Sabah issue takes place,  only the President and Sulu Sultan Kiram should talk.

“The Sultan should be the one to mediate. It should only be between the President and the Sultan,” she said.