Malaysia-bound human trafficking victims rescued | ABS-CBN News | Latest Philippine Headlines, Breaking News, Video, Analysis, Features

Malaysia-bound human trafficking victims rescued | ABS-CBN News | Latest Philippine Headlines, Breaking News, Video, Analysis, Features
Malaysia-bound human trafficking victims rescued

abs-cbnNEWS.com
Posted at 06/14/2011 4:26 PM | Updated as of 06/14/2011 4:27 PM


ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – More than 40 women were rescued by Zamboanga City authorities after an inspection of the ship that the women had boarded.

Authorities believe that the women were victims of human trafficking.

Many of the women were minors who were bound for Malaysia despite not having the legal travel documents.

The women were rescued from MV Wendelyn, a ship bound for Taganak Island in Tawi-Tawi. Acting on a tip from an informant, the Philippine Coast Guard in Zamboanga inspected the ship and discovered that MV Wendelyn was overloaded.

“We found out that the vessel was carrying beyond its capacity of 58 authorized passengers,” said Captain Perfecto Eden of the Philippine Coast Guard.

He added that there were more than 119 passengers inside MV Wendelyn.

Taganak Island is one of the places where human trafficking victims are smuggled to Malaysia.

Because of this, the Coast Guard invited the Visayan Forum and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to evaluate the passengers.

The DSWD then established that more than 40 of the passengers were human trafficking victims.

The women were brought to DSWD centers in Zamboanga and halfway houses of the Visayan forum.

Eden said that they have already issued a ticket to MV Wendelyn for disobeying martime laws. -- With reports from RJ Rosalado, ABS-CBN News Zamboanga

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