Report: PHL may have to wait 4 weeks to visit Pinoy detainees in Sabah

Philippine government representatives may have to wait nearly a month before they can meet with at least 104 people, most of them reportedly Filipinos, detained by Malaysian authorities in Sabah for allegedly supporting followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III. "We will...discuss with the police if representatives from the Philippine embassy and the Philippine consular teams in Sabah could visit the detainees once investigations are over," a report by Malaysia's New Straits Times on Sunday quoted Defense Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as saying on Saturday. The report quoted Zahid as saying such a meeting may take place only after the 28-day detention period allowed under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act of 2012 (Sosma). Zahid said Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin had requested the meeting during a recent meeting in Putrajaya. Forensic probe of 27 bodies Malaysian authorities also expect to complete on Sunday their forensic examination of at least 27 bodies reported to have been Kiram's followers. A report by GMA TV news' Cedric Castillo reported this will allow the Philippine government to claim the bodies of the slain followers. — BM, GMA News