A WOODEN-HULLED vessel ferrying 63 people, including 41 undocumented Filipinos was intercepted by the Philippine Coastguard offshore Zamboanga City, a PCG official said Monday, August 13.

Lieutenant Commander Noriel Ramos, Zamboanga Coastguard Station commander, said the vessel, M/L Al Hapidz, skippered by Jawadi Adjilani was intercepted around 3 p.m. Sunday near the shore of Baliwasan, this city.

Ramos said M/L Al Hapidz came from Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia.

He said that 25 of the 41 undocumented Filipinos are adults and the remaining 16 are minors.

The coastguard commander said they were profiled, including the remaining 22, who have identification cards and travel documents and were subsequently turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

He said passengers of the vessel are residents of Sibuco and Sirawai towns in Zamboanga del Norte and from the villages of Sangali, Sta. Catalina and Upper Calarian, this city.

Those undocumented are presently housed at the processing center for displaced persons of the DSWD in Mampang village, Ramos added.

They were believed to have fled as the Malaysian government has recently resumed the crackdown on illegal migrant workers. (SunStar Philippines)