MANILA, February 22, 2013-Administration coalition Team PNoy said on Friday/Feb. 22 the Sabah issue should not be politicized and used to boost political stock.
Emphasizing that the Department of Foreign Affairs is now finding diplomatic solutions to the issue, Team PNoy spokesman and Deputy Speaker Erin Tañada described pronouncements made by opposition candidate ex-Sen. Ernesto Maceda claiming the Philippine government has been neglecting the Sabah issue as “pure fiction and a total fabrication.”
“We respectfully request Mr. Maceda to desist from trying to stir controversy for his personal political gains using the Sabah issue. He has alluded to the Philippine government’s neglect of the Sabah claim. This is pure fiction and a total fabrication,” Tañada said in a statement.
“Our hardworking diplomats at the Department of Foreign Affairs, together with their counterparts overseas, are exerting all efforts to arrive at a peaceful and long-lasting solution to this sensitive issue,” Tañada said.
“The President is continuing a policy begun by then-President Ramos, and continued by then-President Estrada, for whom Mr. Maceda worked as a member of the Cabinet. At the time, Mr. Maceda never questioned the policy of non-belligerence toward the Sabah issue,” Tanada said.
Earlier, in a press release issued 21 February 2013 by Vice President Binay on the Sabah issue, the Vice President said: “President Aquino is on top of the situation in Sabah. The Department Foreign Affairs is exerting all effort and using all diplomatic avenues to arrive at a peaceful resolution of the Sabah controversy. That is the President’s priority. Let us not second guess the President.”
“We urge Mr. Maceda once again to listen to VP Binay and respect the policy of the government, which is consistent with the policy of his party mate, the former President Estrada,” Tañada said.
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