9 trafficking victims rescued in Tawi-Tawi

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Authorities have rescued nine people, three of them minors, from trafficking as they boarded a commercial vessel that took them to Tawi-Tawi, their jump-off point to Malaysia, where they were promised jobs.

Daniel (not his real name), 57, along with his daughter, a minor, left their home in Surigao del Norte, and together with seven others boarded a commercial vessel plying this city and Tawi-Tawi.

Strict inspection, however, revealed that they did not have legal work documents, making them potential illegal entrants to Malaysia and vulnerable to trafficking, said Rosabella Sulani, head of Municipal Inter-Agency Committee Against Trafficking, who interviewed the group.

Lt. Chester Ross Cabaltera, acting naval public affairs officer of the Naval Forces Western Mindanao, said the nine passengers from Basilan, Ozamiz City, Zamboanga City and Surigao del Norte were intercepted by intelligence operatives as they arrived in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, on Feb. 4.

The group, he said, revealed that three contacts were supposed to fetch them at specified locations in Malaysia. —JULIE S. ALIPALA