Philippine news are reporting to additional Phil. Army non-commissioned officers on board of the flight.
ABS-CBN News Online (Beta)
Air Force: Reports say two soldiers also onboard crashed C130 plane
The Philippine Air Force (PAF) announced on Friday that they have received reports that two Army non-commissioned officers were also aboard the ill-fated C130 Hercules transport plane which crashed last August 25 off Davao Gul bringing to 11 the number of casualties in the tragic incident, including the two pilots and seven plane crewmembers.
In a press conference held on the status of the ongoing search, rescue and retrieval operation operations, Maj. Gen. Jovito P Gammad, PAF Chief of Air Staff, said PAF received confirmation from the units of the Army soldiers that the two boarded the ill-fated transport plane but not at Davao City.
The two were identified as a Coporal Sabangan of the Army’s First Scout Ranger Regiment and a Master Sergeant Nebres from Army’s 3rd Infantry Division (ID) .
"According to the Scout Ranger unit, they confirmed that Cpl. Sabangan boarded the aircraft," said Col. Roy Devaraturda, PAF operations chief.
Sabangan was reported to have boarded the plane at Ft. Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija before the plane flew to Davao City. Sabangan was reported to have been assigned to escort radio equipment for the unit of Scout Rangers in Mindanao. The Army corporal was supposed to immediately return to Ft. Magsaysay afterwards without disembarking from the C130 plane when it went to Davao City.
Nebres meanwhile, said Devaraturda, based on information from 3rd ID was escorting equipment and belongings and was supposed to go back to Manila.
The reports on the two Army personnel, Devaraturda said, were only received by the Air Force after the official list of passengers of the transport plane from Davao City had already been released to the public. He clarified however that the two soldiers were not on the list since they did not disembark and boarded the plane again at Davao City.
Lt. Gen. Pedrito Cadungog, PAF commanding general, in an earlier briefing, had said that before the C130 plane crashed the plane’s flight path were Manila-Laoag-Manila on Monday morning and Manila-Fort Magsaysay-Davao. It was bound for Iloilo City then Manila when it crashed.
‘No probability of survivors’
Meanwhile Gammad announced that Cadungog has approved the declaration that there was no probability of survivors in the plane crash.
The Chief of Air Staff said that the declaration was made after the PAF investigating body submitted a recommendation to Cadungog for its declaration "based on all these pieces of evidence and material that we have gathered so far in the last few days."
The fatal military aircraft crash off Davao Gulf was likely due to human error or mechanical failure, PAF had said Wednesday, ruling out sabotage.
The C-130 aircraft lost contact with air traffic controllers only 20 minutes after leaving the international airport in Davao late Monday, the Air Force said.
Rescuers said the plane crashed into the sea. They have recovered a body and uniforms as well as the propeller from the 41-year-old Lockheed Martin aircraft.
Cadungog said investigators were looking at "material failure or pilot error" as the likely cause.
The aircraft had undergone "very strict security procedures" before taking off and a possibility of an attack or sabotage by Muslim separatist rebels was "very remote," he said.
‘Heartless’
Cadungog emotionally faced the media on Thursday, denouncing reports and statements made by some calling the PAF fleet as "widowmakers" and "flying coffins."
"That is ruthless, reckless, brainless, and heartless. And I will describe him or her as a wild animal," Cadungog said.
He called on the public not to believe these statements, explaining that for the past 14 years since the last C-130 crash in the country, the Hercules plane has been flying everyday delivering troops, ammunition and flying mercy missions during calamities in various parts of the country.
"It is not true, and I will fight for the last airman and the last pilot surviving in the Air Force. I will not allow any pilot, I will not allow any crew to fly an aircraft in our inventory because it is a flying coffin," he said.
In frustration and anger, he said that he is ready to engage in a fistfight against any commentator or columnist destroying the dignity and credibility of the Air Force.
"Ipaglalaban ko talaga. At kung makikipagsuntukan ako, makikipagsuntukan ako kung sino man ang maglakas ng loob na sabihin yun sa harap ko," he said.
Based on the latest information from the investigation on the C-130 crash, the Air Force is now ruling out the angle of sabotage, saying the enemy has no capability to attack the aircraft while on air.
Witnesses reported hearing a loud explosion and seeing a ball of fire as the plane went down into the Gulf of Davao, he said.
Rescuers trawling the waters off Mindanao said there were no signs of life.
"Uniforms and combat boots, maps and records, and the cargo plane's propeller and debris, among others, have been found after the first rounds of search and rescue operations," the army said in a statement.
The C-130 was at about 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) when the pilots made their last call requesting clearance for a flight path, said Cadungog, who called the pilots seasoned airmen.
Cadungog on Tuesday went to Mactan Air Base in Cebu to meet with the families of those aboard.
Sonar equipment pinpointed the likely wreckage of the aircraft late Tuesday, lying in more than 600 feet of water some 2.5 nautical miles off the coast near Davao, said Capt. Arnel Gonzales, head of the search and rescue team. With a report from Agence France-Presse
And what is this?
Somebody must be kidding?
ABS-CBN News Online (Beta)
Families of C130 crew receive P200T, to also get 250T from Arroyo
By CARMI C. CAVANLIT
ABS-CBN Cebu
The families of the nine officers and crew of the ill-fated C130 military transport plane which crashed last Monday gather at the air base in Mactan every day to get information on the search for their lover ones, said Col. Gerardo Jamorabo.
Col Jamorabo is the director for operations of the 220th Airlift Wing of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) which is based at Mactan Benito Ebuen Air Base (MBEAB).
Each family already received P200,000 as ordered by Lt. Gen. Pedrito Cadungog, PAF commanding general.
Families were even emotional when Cadungog met with them, some even fainted.
They are now being promised that they would receive an additional P250,000 from President Arroyo.
In an interview with ABS-CBN, Cadungog said that the P450,000 in financial assistance would be separate from whatever benefits the families would receive for their loved ones’ military service.
The search for the crashed plane continues, although rough seas made it difficult to spot any bodies or survivors.
Since Tuesday, fishermen have found combat boots, body parts and a torn uniform. The wreckage is believed to be at least 600 feet underwater.
But the families of the crew that flocked MBEAB are still holding on to hopes that their loved ones are alive and are just unconscious in islands nearby Davao.
"Wala, we are really hoping gihapon. Di pa mi kadawat. (We are still hoping. We can’t accept this tragedy)," said one relative of the missing crew members.
That's less than USD 10k for a life of a family man, father and breadwinner?