MANILA: The Philippine Government says it will contact the
Malaysian Foreign Ministry over media reports alleging that Philippine citizens
fleeing Sabah were mistreated in the ongoing operation against armed Sulu
gunmen.
Deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte was quoted by
The Philippine Daily Inquirer as saying that any ill-treatment of its citizens
trying to return to the Philippines by Malaysian security forces was
unacceptable.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs will be contacting their
Malaysian counterparts about these reports,” Valte said on the government-run
dzRB radio.
Many Filipinos had reportedly left Lahad Datu, Kunak and
Semporna following the incursion led by Raja Muda Azzimudie Kiram, a brother of
self-proclaimed Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III.
