Thursday, August 28, 2008 Air Force chief: Crashed C-130 was not sabotaged
AIR Force Chief Pedrito Cadungog said he was discounting that the C-130 transport plane that crashed off the waters of Davao City last Monday was sabotaged.
But Cadungog said he will let investigators close out the theory.
"Personally, I am ruling it out already but again, I could not inject my personal assessment on that so I will wait for the official results of the investigation," he told defense reporters in a phone interview.
Cadungog said it was very remote that the aircraft would be sabotaged, specifically by rigging it with bomb, noting that security in military bases is strict. He said some quarters are free to speculate but he was sticking to his assessment.
"Personally, I will fight for my expert opinion. As far as I am concerned, it can never be possible," said Cadungog.
The aircraft left the Davao City International Airport last Monday night for Iloilo City to fetch Presidential Security Group (PSG) personnel who earlier secured President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during her visit to Iloilo Province. The PSG personnel were to return to Manila.
"That won't pass our security procedures. Our security procedures are strict. It (sabotage angle) is very remote, that is very remote. Of course, everybody can speculate but as far as I am concerned, I can confidently say that is the most remote thing to happen," he said.
At present, Cadungog said three main angles are being looked into by investigation: materiel failure, pilot error, and weather phenomenon.
He said the weather angle due to eyewitness accounts that the aircraft was ablaze after a lightning.
Meanwhile, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the Philippines would seek assistance from the US for the acquisition of another C-130 aircraft under a foreign military aide agreement.
According to Ermita, the C-130 plane is a very important air asset as it is used in the delivery of relief goods and other needed items in areas affected by disaster, calamities and even conflict.
He said the Department of National Defense (DND) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are already making contact with the US through the Mutual Defense Treaty to see how the country could immediately acquire another C-130.
He said he is not sure how many C-130 would be acquired and if it would be bought or donated and if it would be a new one or a refurbished one, leaving the details to the defense officials.
Ermita added that as far as he knows, the country has three remaining C-130s but only one remains operational. He said the two others are still being rehabilitated and repaired, which also has to be hastened in light of the recent developments.
"With the latest C-130 incident, this will provide the DND and AFP better focus on fast-tracking the much needed modernization program," he said, adding that the AFP modernization program is part of the priorities of the Arroyo government. (VR/JMR/Sunnex)
