MV Sangko Uno, a Philippine vessel with alleged undeclared Chinese crew members, has been involved in dredging activities in Mindoro Island and Manila Bay, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said on Tuesday, Sept. 17.
The PCG said that MV Sangko Uno is a Philippine-registered dredging vessel homeported in Batangas. It said the vessel is owned and operated by a company based in Occidental Mindoro.
“Moreover, it is engaged in dredging and dumping activity in Mindoro and Manila Bay,” a statement from the PCG said.
The PCG noted that their investigation will include the legitimacy of the dredging operation since the crew members were undeclared, although initial results showed there was nothing suspicious.
Meanwhile, the PCG conducted a follow-up operation around 12:40 a.m. Tuesday and found two more Chinese crew and two Filipinos who serve as master and second mate of MV Sangko Uno, bringing the total number of collared crew to 10.
Last Sept. 16, the PCG arrested five Chinese crew and a Filipino-Chinese man who acts as translator of the group at the Navotas Port during an intelligence-driven operation.
Capt. Vincent Laca, commanding officer of Coast Guard Station (CGS) Manila, said that the master of the vessel did not write the names of the Chinese crew members in the master’s declaration of safe departure (MDSF) when MV Sangko Uno underwent inspection.
The vessel is headed to Mindoro when it was flagged by the PCG.
“Sa master’s declaration of safe departure, doon nilalagay ang manifesto kung ano ang karga nila, mga crew nila. May information tayo na natanggap na mali ang inilagay nila. Pagboard namin observing our usual protocol, natuklasan namin na may anim na Chinese nationals, including one Filipino-Chinese na translator sila na hindi nakalagay sa manifesto (In the master’s declaration of safe departure, the manifesto is included there where it should indicate what their cargo is, who the crew members are. We received an information that they have wrong data inputs. We boarded the vessel while observing our usual protocol and we discovered that there were six Chinese nationals onboard, including one Filipino-Chinese translator, who are not included in the manifesto),” Laca said.
Read: PCG finds undocumented Chinese crew aboard dredger in Navotas
The PCG said the Chinese crew members are “undeclared” on the crew list and not “undocumented” as it earlier reported. The eight arrested foreigners presented their passports and tourist visas to the PCG.
Despite presenting their documents, the PCG said that the Chinese crew “cannot work onboard a dredging vessel in the Philippine waters with just a tourist visa.”
“According sa translator, tinuturuan ‘yung crew kung paano mag-operate ng equipment sa vessel. But then again, hindi pa rin sila dineclare na nandoon sila sa barko at ang hawak nilang visa is tourist visa (According to the translator, the crew are being taught how to operate an equipment onboard the vessel. But then again, they were not declared to be onboard the ship and the visa that they have is only a tourist visa),” Laca said.
The undeclared Chinese crew members have been in the country for two days.
The PCG said it will contact the owner of the dredger vessel to determine their liabilities.
The arrested crew members of MV Sangko Uno were brought to the PCG headquarters in Manila onboard PCG vessel BRP Boracay.