(CNN) -- Philippine President Benigno Aquino III ordered a group of Muslim rebels to surrender Saturday after an ongoing standoff led to bloodshed. "From the very start, our objective has been to avoid the loss of lives and the shedding of blood," Aquino said in a statement Saturday. "If you have grievances, the path you chose was wrong. The just, and indeed, the only correct thing for you to do is to surrender." The peculiar standoff, which started in February on Borneo between Malaysian security forces and a group of men from the southern Philippines, has its roots in a recent landmark peace deal between Manila and Muslim rebels, according to experts on the region. More than 100 men from the mainly Muslim southern Philippines came ashore in the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo, demanding to be recognized as representatives of a sultanate that has historical claims on the area. Their claims touch on an unresolved territorial question between the Philippines and Malaysia, as well as Manila's efforts to improve relations with Islamic insurgents in the country's south after decades of violence. Malaysian police and armed forces soon surrounded the village in the eastern Sabah district of Lahad Datu, where the men had gathered. Police officials said they were negotiating with the group in an effort to persuade its members to return to their homes in the Philippines peacefully. Ten to 12 of the gunmen, and two Malaysian commandos were killed in clashes in the area,the official Philippines News Agency reported.KUANTAN: It is impossible for the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) to completely prevent intrusion into the country's territorial waters, said its director-general Maritime Admiral Datuk Mohd Amdan Kurish. Commenting on the Lahad Datu standoff, he said the coastal line under the watch of the agency spanned 2,992km and could not be monitored all the time. "In the Lahad Datu area, I think the coast is close to 100km long. There are 35 vessels patrolling Malaysia's waters 24 hours a day and the entire territorial waters under MMEA jurisdiction is 640,000 square km, larger than the Peninsular and East Malaysia. "In Lahad Datu, there can only be two or three vessels on patrol," Mohd Amdan told reporters after the renaming ceremony of the MMEA Training Centre and Academy in Gebeng here Saturday. He also said the two to three patrol vessels could not possibly check every contact that showed up on radar. "The furthest our naked eye can see is 12km in daytime and due to the Earth's curvature, we cannot see anything further than that. With radar, we can detect an area of 30 to 35km but the contact will only show up as a dot and we have to go to it for verification. At any one time, there can be 10 contacts," said Mohd Amdan. He added that Lahad Datu was also very close to the Philippines and intruders could assemble on one of the islands and speed across the sea in high-horsepower boats in just 30 minutes. However, Mohd Amdan said that following the situation, MMEA would fine-tune coordination with the Navy and other security forces so there would be no further encroachment. "Due to the incident, we have bolstered security in the region with three ships and six boats. Nobody has gotten past us after the first intrusion," he said.Lahad Datu: O governo das Filipinas tem reiterado seu apelo aos seguidores de Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III a se render e evitar mais derramamento de sangue aqui. O governo também disse que uma equipe jurídica ficaria em reivindicação Kiram sobre Sabah. Lendo uma declaração do presidente Benigno Aquino, porta-voz Edwin Lacierda, disse em Manila, que o caminho escolhido pelo exército Kiram em Sabah era "errado". "Nosso objetivo desde o início tem sido a de evitar a perda de vidas e do galpão de sangue. No entanto, você não se juntar a nós neste objetivo. "Por causa do caminho que você (Kiram) escolheu, o que temos tentado evitar chegou a passar", disse a jornalistas Ele estava se referindo ao tiroteio entre as forças de segurança da Malásia e soldados Kiram aqui ontem de manhã. Kiram exército, liderado pelo príncipe herdeiro Raja Agbimuddin, foram escondidos em Felda Sahabat em Lahad Datu desde 09 de fevereiro recusando-se a atender ao chamado de Manila para que elas voltem pacificamente para Filipinas. Lacierda exortou ainda os que estavam em contato com o grupo Agbimuddin em Sabah para convencê-los a se render. "O justo ea única coisa correta a fazer é se render. Para aqueles com a capacidade de raciocinar com os de Lahad Datu, pedimos-lhe que transmita esta mensagem: Renda-se agora sem condições ", disse ele. .

• published: 02 Mar 2013
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