Members of the Philippine Coast Guard Zamboanga Station intercepted at least 63 undocumented Filipinos who were on board a local inter-island vessel off the seas of Basilan area.

Zamboanga City Coast Guard Station chief Lt. Commander Noriel Ramos said that members of his command under their advance station based in Basilan province intercepted a report around 1:30pm on Sunday afternoon that a local vessel named M/L Hapidz was enroute to Zamboanga City from Isabela,Basilan where undetermined number of passengers were on board.

PCG Zamboanga immediately acted on that radio message and was able to intercept M/L Al Hapidz skippered by boat captain Jawadi Adjilani, while approaching and about to dock in PMI wharf, located in Baliwasan seaside, Zamboanga City.

Ramos said that during the inspection, the vessel was carrying some sixty three (63) passengers. At the same time, the combined inspection team from PCG Zamboanga together with the K9 Unit of PCG Southwestern Mindanao under the command of Captain Joseph Coyme, in coordination with Joint Task Force Zamboanga and Zamboanga City Police Office apprehended the undocumented individuals and immediately conducted security inspection and paneling to all baggages on board the said vessel and their upon clearing, they were subsequently escorted to the Department of Social Welfare and Development Processing Center for Displaced Persons (DSWD-PCDP) located in Barangay Mampang this city for proper legal disposition, wherein it was discovered that twenty (25) of the passengers does not have any identification to include (16) minors. The other passengers with identification and documents were also profiled and eventually been released to DSWD custody.

Ramos said that during the process of accounting and investigation he discovered that reportedly the said passengers came from Kota Kinabalu, in Sandakan, Sabah Malaysia and entered the Philippines via Bakungan island, in Tawi-Tawi and where they took the vessel to reach Basilan and Zamboanga consequently.

“Nagpalipat-lipat sila ng isla from Bakungan, to Sulu, then to Basilan bago makarating ng Zamboanga, mga illegal na nakatira ang karamihan sa kanila sa Sandakan kung saan may massive crackdown and Malaysian authorities on undocumented aliens, apektado ang mga ito kayat nagdesisyon silang umuwi pabalik ng Pilipinas kaysa mahuli ng otoridad doon,” Ramos said.

During the profiling process, it was found that said passengers origins from Sibuco,and Sirawai, in Zamboanga del Norte province, the rest are from the barangays of Sangali, Upper Calarian and Sta Barbara here in Zamboanga City.

“PCG Zamboanga and Southwestern Mindanao has been intensifying our efforts in monitoring all vessels and personalities entering and leaving our territorials waters here in Western Mindanao region towards the border in Malaysia, and this relentless effort will continue as part of our objective in securing our waters from lawless elements and other enemies of the state entering the southern backdoor,” Ramos said. – PCG-ZAMBOANGA