Roxas meets with Kiram brother to discuss 'disengagement'

(Updated 4:10 p.m.) No one mentioned surrender. But at a meeting Monday with the brother of Jamalul Kiram III, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas tackled conditions for the "disengagement" of armed followers of Kiram who have been battling, and eluding, the full force of the Malaysian military in Sabah for nearly two weeks. Among the concerns they discussed were the means for laying down arms. Roxas said that no offer of immunity from suit was made to the Kirams during the meeting, which was requested by Bantilan Kiram II, Jamalul's brother. At a press briefing after the meeting at the Philippine National Police headquarters in Quezon City, Roxas explained that his two-hour meeting with Kiram II focused on the “disengagement” of the Sulu sultanate's followers in Sabah. “Napag-usapan lang na, halimbawa, nasasapubliko naman na sinabi ng leader ng Malaysia na pagbaba ng armas ang pinaka-condition para magtigil-putukan. So, isa sa mga tanong nila ay anong pamamaraan at anong mekanismo,” Roxas said. Kiram II said his meeting with Roxas had the blessing of the Sulu sultan. “Nag-usap kami only to find ways and means para ma-resolve ang problema natin doon sa Sabah... Bago kami nag-seek ng appointment, pinagbigay-alam ko sa kanya [Kiram III],” Kiram II said. Roxas added that the meeting was a follow-up to the preliminary “exploratory” talks he held with Kiram III's representatives last week in Zamboanga City. “Pabubulaanan ko ang sinasabi na walang pag-uusap. Maraming pag-uusap on so many levels sa iba't ibang paraan... Talk is better than no talk,” he said. Roxas did not further elaborate what was discussed in the meeting, saying he still has to report to President Benigno Aquino III on the matter. However, he said that no offer of immunity from suit was made to the Kirams during the meeting. Followers of the supposed Sultanate of Sulu are currently engaged in a battle with Malaysian authorities in Sabah, supposedly to assert the sultanate's claim on what it calls its ancestral territory. The sultanate's heirs have been receiving a nominal yearly compensation package from Malaysia under a long-standing agreement for possession of Sabah. — Andreo C. Calonzo/KBK/HS, GMA News