21 intercepted off Zamboanga for evading COVID-19 testing

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — Two motor boats carrying 21 people without travel documents were intercepted off the coast of Barangay Tictapul in this city on Thursday.

Personnel of the 74th Infantry Battalion, local police and concerned government agencies discovered that the passengers, some of them residents of Basilan, came from Barangay Limbungan in Tungawan, Zamboanga Sibugay and traveled by sea to evade swab testing.

The military coordinated with the local inter-agency task force on COVID-19 for appropriate action.

The city government imposed stringent border control as the number of infections continues to rise. Visitors are required to undergo swab testing.

As this developed, police and military authorities located 17 people from Surigao who went missing after arriving here on Tuesday to evade quarantine after one of them tested positive for COVID-19.

Col. Rexmel Reyes and Joint Task Force Zamboanga chief Col. Randoph Rojas quoted Ershad Tawasil, local inter-agency task force head of Lugus town in Sulu, as saying that the 17 are on the island.

The group reportedly arrived at the Lugus port on Wednesday and was intercepted by members of a barangay health emergency response team for lack of pertinent medical certificates.

The group was quarantined on a boat owned by Lugus Mayor Hadar Hadjiri.

Authorities issued a warning on the illegal transport or smuggling of people untested for COVID-19, saying even passengers would be held liable for violation of health protocols.