Cdr. Cirilo Ortiz, commanding officer of the Coast Guard detachment in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, reported that three still unidentified children, aged three, died due to dehydration after drinking seawater.
Some 100 overstaying Filipinos were deported last Aug. 6 from Malaysia aboard motorized boats and brought to Sapa-Sapa in Tawi-Tawi. From there, the deportees were shipped to Bongao, where they are now awaiting available transportation assistance to Zamboanga, the Coast Guard said.
Reports said the fatalities were forced to drink seawater due to lack of potable drinking water during their week-long sea voyage. Other deportees were reportedly sick and malnourished.
The Coast Guard has sought assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development for food and medicine as the number of deportees are expected to swell in the coming weeks.
The Malaysian government recently announced that it was going to deport thousands of Filipino settlers in their country. The illegal settlers who came to Malaysia were mostly Mindanao natives who illegally entered Malaysia to work in deep-sea fishing and canning industries. — Nestor Etolle