of win

in $14.9b case vs. PH sultanate heirs

LAWYERS for the Malaysian government are "confident" of winning a Dutch court case over a $14.9 billion award against the Southeast Asian nation that stems from a 19th century deal with a Philippine sultan, a senior minister has said.

The complex legal battle being fought in European courts is rooted in Malaysia's colonial past, and at stake are territorial claims and potentially billions of dollars’ worth of state assets.

The Malaysian government has warned that the legal action being waged by the Sultan of Sulu's descendants "threatens the sovereignty and security of the country."

But in a Facebook post late Thursday, Azalina Othman Said, a minister in the Malaysian prime minister's department, said their lawyers were "confident" of victory.

"Malaysian appointed lawyers are confident that Malaysia has a good chance of winning based on the facts and evidence that is clearly on Malaysia's side," Azalina wrote.

The Sultan of Sulu once ruled over the tropical islands that are part of the southern Philippines as well as Sabah in Malaysia.

Oil-rich Sabah fell under the control of European colonial powers in 1878 in an agreement that saw the sultan and his descendants receive annual payments – the equivalent of around $1,100 – that Malaysia continued to make after it was formed in 1963. AFP (See full story online at manilastandard.net)

UAE pardons 3 Pinoys after Marcos’ appeal

PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has thanked United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan for pardoning three convicted Filipinos, two of whom were on death row, already serving their sentences in the emirate state.

In a telephone call to Sheikh Mohamed, President Marcos expressed gratitude for the grant of the request he made two months ago.

In two separate letters last April 27, President Marcos requested Sheikh Mohamed to grant the three Filipino prisoners humanitarian pardon.

Of the three prisoners, two were sentenced to death for drug trafficking while the other one was handed down a 15-year sentence for slander.

President Marcos also thanked Sheikh Mohamed for extending assistance to displaced families by the Mayon Volcano eruption. The UAE has sent 50 tons of food supplies and medicine to Mayon evacuees.

For his part, Sheikh Mohamed noted the valuable contribution of some 600,000 Filipinos working in the UAE.