OPAPP ‘oops’ started it all

The much feared violence and bloody turn of events came to pass last Friday when the defiant clan and followers of the Sultan of Sulu refused to heed presidential appeals to them to peacefully leave Sabah. On the third week of the standoff in Lahad Datu, the Sultan’s claims over that piece of land in Sabah were paid dearly by twelve of his Muslim brothers who were killed in the skirmish with Malaysian police authorities.

Some of the Sultan’s men led by his younger brother, Rajah Mudah Agbimmudin, carried high-powered firearms when they sailed to Lahad Datu last February 9. Thus, it alerted Malaysian authorities about the presence of armed men in that part of Sabah. For several days, there was a standoff as the Malaysian authorities held back any forceful eviction of the Sultan’s armed men.

Three days earlier, President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III called a press conference at Malacañang Palace to air his appeal to Sultan Jamalul Kiram III. Through media and presidential emissaries, P-Noy reiterated his appeals to the Sultan to recall his brother and their 200 or so followers to return to Sulu. The President reassured them the Philippine government is exhausting diplomatic means to convince Malaysia to agree to sit-down discussions about their Sabah claims.

From his own admission, the Chief Executive pointed to an administrative boo-boo by his presidential staff that seemed to have started this trouble. P-Noy had to apologize that the Sultan’s letter sent to him during his first few weeks into his office in 2010 got lost somewhere along the “bureaucratic maze” at the Office of the President and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).

The letter was purportedly written and sent through the OPAPP by Rajah Mudah to congratulate P-Noy and to express the clan request for the government to assist them in renewing their claims with Malaysian authorities for unpaid rent in Sabah. And in that same letter, Rajah Mudah supposedly expressed their clan’s interest in the government’s peace negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) as brokered by Malaysia.

Despite the presidential public admission, there was no official explanation or effort on the part of OPAPP chief Teresita Deles to shed light on this very serious lapse. Sought by The Star on the matter, Deles confirmed they indeed lost the letter. “Oops!”

Deles, however, hastily added the OPAPP sought out the Kirams in 2011 to address their concerns, especially on the peace talks with the MILF.

In a radio interview a few days after his brother and their followers occupied their lands in Lahad Datu, I heard Sultan Kiram bemoan they were never consulted about by the peace process in Mindanao. This was to refute suspicions echoed by Palace factotums of P-Noy about an alleged plot to sabotage the progress made by the government in its peace talks with the MILF.

Aside from the public declaration of their family’s desire to return and reacquire their “homeland” in Sabah, the Sultan expressed dismay they were felt left out in the cold when the Framework Agreement was signed.

The memory loss of the 74-year-old ailing Sultan Kiram, who is going through regular dialysis treatment, could be selective. He remembered being invited by OPAPP to the Palace in October last year to witness the signing of the Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro between the government and the MILF negotiating panels. “I felt that my wife and I were used like flower jars when we were made to pose for photos when we had nothing to do with that (peace pact),” Sultan Kiram said.

As things turned out, it was a costly mistake by OPAPP staff now being paid dearly with lives of the Sultan’s followers who thought their concerns were ignored by the President. Obviously, OPAPP, or Deles for that matter, merely got a slap on the wrist.

Somewhere, somehow, sinister forces may be working in dark corners of the government all the way to the Palace to ensure no obstacles in the Aquino administration’s goal to forge a formal peace pact with the MILF.

President Aquino had already appointed the members of the 15-man Transition Commission that would work on enabling laws for the creation of the Bangsamoro autonomous political entity. The latest word from our government peace panel that has been shuttling to and from Kuala Lumpur to meet with their MILF counterparts, is that they can finalize the Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro by April.

Or there could be vested interests trying to pull a fast one and fed P-Noy with plausible tales that certain anti-administration groups are behind alleged plots to sabotage the peace talks using the Sabah card. President Aquino should watch out within his ranks for do-gooders who do more harm than good to his administration.

What could be another “oops” is the poorly worded presidential statement that was again issued a day after Malaysian police finally ended the standoff. It urged Rajah Mudah and his followers “to surrender without conditions” to prevent further bloodshed in Lahad Datu. How did such a presidential statement use such a politically incorrect word as “surrender” in this kind of situation? Sensitive to the peace talks, the government never used the word “surrender” with the MILF rebels.

In response to the latest presidential statement, the Kiram clan declared “honor over life” as their followers remained adamant about leaving Lahad Datu. This despite the Malaysian police authorities threat to take “drastic action” against Kiram’s followers if they insist on staying.

P-Noy’s personal emissaries from Governor Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to presidential political adviser Ronald Llamas to National Security Adviser retired Gen. Cesar Garcia have all miserably failed to convince Sultan Kiram on a more rational way to settle the clan’s Sabah claims. Perhaps, somehow P-Noy’s emissaries may have lost the right words to communicate the presidential message.

If he flew all the way to Tokyo to help OPAPP jumpstart the peace talks with the MILF, the city of Taguig where Sultan Kiram lives should not be too far for President Aquino to end this Sabah crisis. Perhaps, it’s time for the President to handle this matter himself and prevent another “oops.”