MikeLigalig.com

After congratulating and expressing his clan’s support for the new Aquino administration, Agbimuddin informed Aquino about the creation of the Interim Supreme Royal Ruling Council (ISRRC) under the sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo as a result of the series of consultations in Simunul, Tawi-Tawi; KM-4 Indanan, Sulu; and Kawit, Zamboanga City, on June 20, 25 and 26, 2010.

There is probably another reason why the letter got lost in Malacañang.

The letter was dated June 28, 2010, two days before Aquino took his oath as President. Technically, then, he was not yet officially the sitting President.

The letter was coursed through the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) but since Secretary Teresita Deles had not yet assumed office at the time, another officer there received the letter and it was this officer who decided it was “not urgent.”

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Seeking guidance

Specifically, Agbimuddin in the letter asked for guidance from the new President on what course of action the ISRRC should take, especially involving the Sabah claim.

“With highest esteem, may we inform His Excellency that during the consultation process, we asked our supporters what action, under the guiding light of your administration, the ISRRC of the sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo would take or adopt anent the Sabah issue, which became the national contract between the government of the Philippines and the sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo pursuant to the filing of such claim in the United Nations against Great Britain and Malaysia in 1962,” Agbimuddin said.

Anticipating Aquino’s participation in international forums such as the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) leaders’ summit, Agbimuddin stated his clan’s position on the Sabah claim to guide the President in discussions on the issue in meetings with representatives of Malaysia.

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Ignored for five decades

Abraham Idjirani, secretary general and spokesman of the sultanate of Sulu, said the appointment of Agbimuddin as ISRRC chairman was the basis for the crown prince’s exercising “authority” over Sabah, thus the six-hour “journey back home” to Sabah on Feb. 11 (most reports date the Sabah trip to Feb. 9).

In his letter to Aquino, Agbimuddin expressed his clans’ exasperation at being ignored through five decades of the discussions of the Sabah claim.

Agbimuddin said the heirs of the sultanate suspected that vested interests in the previous administrations were behind the claim’s being denied the attention it deserved.

The letter ended with the clan’s expression of hope of seeing “a change in the treatment of the Sabah issue” under Aquino’s administration.

Agbimuddin also said any treatment of the Sabah claim must be “consistent with the laws of the Philippines” and in consideration of the sultanate’s “legal, historic rights, cultural traditions and heritage.”

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