Last week’s poor market close

At the end of trading last Friday, the market posted a loss of 79.18 points or 1.18 percent to close at 6,642.27. Along with its additional two consecutive days of losses on Tuesday and Wednesday, this made the market to suffer its first weekly loss for the year.

The outcome of trading last Friday was a total surprise because the market established a new all-time record high on Thursday when it closed at its session’s high of 6,721.45. Reviewing the trading records for Friday, it appeared that the market was upbeat when it opened at 6,725.36, slightly higher than the previous day’s closing.

The market, however, was not able to go up any higher as reports of a fierce gun battle between the men of the Sultan of Sulu and the Malaysian police force broke out at 10 o’clock that morning.

Sabah issue

The crisis arose when followers of Jamalul Kiram III, an heir to the Islamic Sultanate of Sulu, landed on Feb. 12 at Lahad Datu to press its ownership claim over Sabah. The ownership claim stems from the time when Sabah was given by the Sultan of Brunei to the Sultan of Sulu as a prize for helping the former quell a rebellion in his kingdom. Since that time on, Sabah was recognized to be under the sovereignty of the Sultanate of Sulu.

Were it not for the lease agreement entered into by the Sultan of Sulu in 1878 with Gustavus Baron Von Overbeck and British Alfred Dent of the British North Borneo Co., we should not have this problem now. Out of this agreement, there are two opposing interpretations to the word used to describe the lease. The word is “padjak.” The British version insists that it meant “grant and cede” akin to the present deal on real estate sales of “rent to own,” a concept which is doubtful to be a fad at the time, aside from the fact that the said word means “mortgage or pawn” as used currently in Sulu.

The Malaysian government considers this historic right of the Sultanate of Sulu as a “non-issue,” drawing support from the international jurisprudence that—during the impending formation of the Federation of Malaysia then—the people in Sabah elected to join the federation.

Despite this stance, however, the Malaysian Embassy in the Philippines has been issuing “check payments amounting to 5,300 ringgit ($1,710 or P77,000) every year to the legal counsel of the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu.

Aside from undeniable continued payment, the Sultanate of Sulu draws further legal basis from the 1939 judgment of then Chief Justice C.F.C. Makaskie of the High Court of North Borneo following the civil suit filed by the late Dayang Dayang Hadji Piandao and eight other heirs of the Sultan of Sulu, which included “the famous Putih (Princess) Tarhata Kiram.”

The judgment upheld the validity of the claim of the heirs that “Sabah belongs to the Sultanate and not to Britain.”

A total of 22 dead arising from two separate encounters have, so far, been reported over the weekend. Thus, while a peaceful process to settle the claim is yet to be arrived at, the problem in Lahad Datu could potentially produce ugly possibilities that might affect the market.

Peace initiative

To build peace and world understanding is the Group Study Exchange (GSE) program of Rotary International (RI).  In this connection, RI District 3800, comprising the geographical areas of Kalookan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela, Marikina, Pasig, Mandaluyong, San Juan and Rizal, is host to the inbound US-Canada GSE team from “RI District 7090, covering 40 Rotary clubs in the northwestern part of New York State, United Sates and 30 Rotary clubs in southern Ontario, Canada.”

The GSE program “is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for business people and professionals between the ages of 25 and 40 who are in the early stages of their careers. The program provides travel grants for teams to exchange visits in paired areas of different countries. For four to six weeks, team members experience the host country’s culture and institutions, observe how the vocations are practiced abroad, develop personal and professional relationships, and exchange ideas.”

The GSE program between District 7090 and District 3800 is soon to end. The current inbound team from the US and Canada will be the last. The outbound team sent in October last year from the Philippines was the last, too.

In a vocational visit arranged with the University of the Philippines, Kristen Smith of the inbound US-Canada GSE team had the pleasant surprise and fortune of meeting a member of the first outbound Philippine team to District 7090 (sponsored by the Rotary club of Manila of then District 380) in the person of no other than the president of the university, Alfredo E. Pascual. With the inbound US-Canada GSE team, too, is Sherry Kerr, team leader, and members Jessica Manuel, Megan Macleod and Michelle Sass.

Bottom line spin

The Sabah gun battle last Friday at Lahad Datu may have triggered the sell-off by the market. As to whether this may lead to “blood on the streets,” so to speak, remains to be seen. To what I see, though, the market is not about to capitulate.

(The writer is a licensed stockbroker of Eagle Equities Inc..  You may reach the Market Rider at [email protected] , [email protected] or at www.kapitaltek.com)