Philippines seeks to intervene in KL-RI island row

Philippines seeks to intervene in KL-RI island row

MANILA (Agencies): The Philippines has sought permission to
"intervene" in a territorial dispute between neighbors Indonesia
and Malaysia under consideration by the International Court of
Justice, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Foreign Undersecretary Lauro Baja said Manila "filed an
application to intervene in the case concerning the dispute over
the ownership of Sipadan and Ligitan islands between Malaysia and
Indonesia."

The Philippines' interest in the case is that "there is a
possibility" any decision by the tribunal would impact on
Manila's claim to the Malaysian state of Sabah, he told
reporters.

Malaysia and Indonesia have agreed to allow the International
Court of Justice to decide who really owns the Celebes Sea
islands, Baja said.

Malaysia will likely cite its ownership of Sabah as the basis
over its claim to the two islands, but the Philippines has a
claim to Sabah based on the rule of a southern Philippine
sultanate there in the 15th century.

A decision by the international court might affect the
Philippines' claim, including its attempts to settle the claim by
peaceful means, Baja said.

Baja stressed the Philippines was not asking to become a party
in the case and that he had briefed diplomats of the two
concerned countries before filing the intervention.

The application states that the Philippines has been pursuing
the claim over Sabah through "diplomatic negotiations, official,
international correspondence and peaceful discussions which have
not yet been concluded."

Baja said while the Philippine appeal may not prosper, the
government had to push through with it, "otherwise, we may be
accused of having slept on our rights."

The Sabah question had been an irritant in Kuala Lumpur-Manila
ties ever since former Philippine President Diosdado Macapagal
revived the claim to the state when it became independent and
joined Malaysia in 1963.

The Philippines has never formally renounced its claim,
although officials in Manila have said previously they would not
allow it to be a thorn in bilateral relations.

Attempts by previous Philippine administrations to drop the
Sabah claim have been shot down by the Senate.

Kuala Lumpur-Manila relations have been twice broken off
because of the claim, which remains in the Baseline Act, an
appendix to the rewritten constitution of the Philippines which
defines Sabah as part of Philippine territory.

MILF rebels

Meanwhile, the Philippine government and MILF rebels have
agreed to resume talks on ending a 29-year-old insurrection in
the south of the country, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said
on Tuesday.

Arroyo told a news conference in Manila that her government
and the MILF had agreed to resume peace talks at a meeting held
in the Malaysian capital.

"An accord has been signed in Kuala Lumpur. The MILF has
agreed to resume peace talks and form their own negotiating panel
shortly," Arroyo added.

A spokesman for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) told
Reuters that Malaysia would probably act as a mediator in the
talks, with Kuala Lumpur serving as a possible venue.

"There are no more obstacles. The major concerns have been
addressed," MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said by telephone from the
southern island of Mindanao.

Arroyo said the MILF had also agreed to a cease-fire, matching
a gesture she made recently when she ordered government forces to
halt all attacks against the separatists.

Arroyo said she would release more details on the Kuala Lumpur
accord upon the return to Manila of presidential adviser

Eduardo Ermita, who met the MILF leaders there.

Peace talks with the MILF collapsed in August last year after
government forces, on the orders of then president Joseph
Estrada, attacked and overran more than 40 rebel camps on the
southern island of Mindanao, 800 km (500 miles) south of Manila.