The U.S. Navy hospital ship Mercy arrived off Zamboanga in the Philippines yesterday to provide humanitarian and civic assistance as part of a five-month deployment to Southeast Asia and the western Pacific.

Volunteers include about 30 physicians, pharmacists and other medical personnel from the Aloha Medical Mission in Hawai'i.

Assistance is being provided in Zamboanga, Jolo and Tawi-Tawi in the Philippines, locations where insurgents have been active.

The ship also is scheduled to visit Indonesia, Bangladesh and East Timor.