Sulu Sultan's cousin arrested in Sabah

MANILA (1st UPDATE) - A cousin of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram has reportedly been arrested by Malaysian police in the island of Sabah, Malaysia. Salib Asaral, the sultan's cousin, is currently detained in the town of Lahad Datu, where over a hundred of the sultan's followers arrived by sea last February 9 to claim the island. The Philippines has sent a mercy ship to pick up scores of followers of Kiram who entered the Malaysian state of Sabah to press his territorial claims. The "humanitarian ship" departed the southern-most Philippine island...

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Martial Law Victims to Receive Reparations

MANILA — Philippine President Benigno Aquino signed into law Monday legislation that would recognize and compensate victims of human rights abuses during martial law under former President Ferdinand Marcos. Lawmakers spent 14 years trying to pass various forms of a proposal that would make the government recognize human rights victims of injustices under the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Congressman Walden Bello says it passed this year because many legislators realized the victims were aging, if not dying,...

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