PHILSTAR: ALEX MAGNO
For more than three weeks, we did not have a consular team on the ground. The DFA was getting information second-hand. We had no diplomat available to negotiate with the armed Filipino group, perhaps to relay messages from the office of the President. The crisis may have ended earlier (and peacefully) if we had a consular team deployed near the line of confrontation - and if the Palace paid the crisis the executive focus it deserved. That is now academic Blood has been shed. Malaysian security forces were humiliated and will want to get even. Kuala Lumpur is irritated and will tend towards draconian measures.
For more than three weeks, we did not have a consular team on the ground. The DFA was getting information second-hand. We had no diplomat available to negotiate with the armed Filipino group, perhaps to relay messages from the office of the President. The crisis may have ended earlier (and peacefully) if we had a consular team deployed near the line of confrontation - and if the Palace paid the crisis the executive focus it deserved. That is now academic Blood has been shed. Malaysian security forces were humiliated and will want to get even. Kuala Lumpur is irritated and will tend towards draconian measures.
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