At least seven Chinese crew members were found in a foreign-owned vessel anchored in the vicinity waters off San Felipe, Zambales on Thursday.
According to a report by Ian Cruz in “24 Oras”, MT Hyperline 988 is registered under Sierra Leone, but a Philippine flag can be seen waving on top of it.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) was not able to immediately detect the vessel because its automatic identification system was turned off.
The PCG personnel also tried communicating with the crew via radio on Wednesday afternoon, but there was no response.
“The Coast Guard K9 unit also conducted a paneling inspection with a narcotic detection dog and yielded a negative result,” the PCG said in a statement posted in its social media account.
The PCG said the Chinese crew members departed from Hong Kong on May 11.
However, the Chinese nationals failed to present original and printed versions of relevant documents, including the crew list, passports, and seaman’s books.
The vessel’s supposed destination was at the Manila Anchorage Area, but the crew decided to go to Zambales instead due to the high anchorage fee in the country’s capital. However, the town of San Felipe has no pier where they can pay the fee.
According to the ship’s captain, a Filipino company bought the vessel that’s why they are in the country.
The PCG has detained the vessel due to the absence of a Notice of Arrival in the local Coast Guard and 21 deficiencies. Investigation is ongoing.
San Felipe is 130 nautical miles away from Bajo de Masinloc or the Panatag Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.
The PCG said Bureau of Immigration personnel have visited the vessel.
Moreover, staff from the Zambales Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office also went to San Felipe to check the presence of an alleged dredging vessel despite the suspension of dredging activities since March. — Vince Angelo Ferreras/BAP, GMA Integrated News
