DEATHS could have been avoided had President Benigno Aquino III intervened during the initial stages of the Sabah dispute, said Juan Miguel Zubiri, United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) senatorial candidate.
“Even if the president has to do it then he has to do it,” he said.
Zubiri said that if president Aquino went out of his way to speak to the King of Saudi to save the life of a death row convict there is no reason for the president not to also engage in a peace dialog with the Malaysian prime minister.
“The unnecessary deaths Sabah could have been avoided if he (Aquino) sent a high level delegation to meet with kiram. But he sent his underlings. What happened was a mere war of works and good sound bites,” he said.
Anad party-list Rep. Jun Alcover Jr. is asking national officials to be more circumspect in issuing statements on the Sabah dispute to prevent from further escalating the tension./Reporter Doris Bongcaca and Correspondent Renan Alanginan