LAST July 4, more than 50 of the more than 90 members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) died when the C-130 transport plane of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) crashed on landing in Patikul, Sulu. The plane transported the new graduates who will be part of the campaign of government to fight terrorism in Mindanao.
The investigations are ongoing and the AFP promised to look at all angles on the tragedy. The recent news is they have recovered the plane’s flight data recorder and the report would come in a month’s time from the United States.
The AFP considers weather conditions, pilot error and the plane’s overall state as behind the incident. Initially, the authorities declared that the plane is in good condition despite being second-hand when purchased from the United States and has remaining 11,000 flight hours when the incident happened.
Prior to this, a separate incident happened on the newly-delivered Black Hawk helicopter killing 6 of its crew. The AFP similarly conducted investigations but has yet to release its report and actions taken if in case they are willing to make it public.
The state of our air powers continues to challenge the leadership of the AFP. While we are in the process of modernizing our air capabilities, we are led to understand that this is what we get with second-hand technology sold to our government. It is just that we possess soldiers who are brave enough to join these flights even though their lives could be sacrificed.
It is sad that we are left with no other option than take the slightly used aircraft for the main operations of our men in the field. Second, it is sad that we assume the airworthiness of these aircrafts even though they are only refurbished and presented to look new after our purchase.
We share in the sadness felt by the family of those who died but how we wish, we could’ve prevented death and incidents to happen. The leadership of the AFP cannot simply invoke military secrecy in incidents like this because as an institution, they are subject to the people’s authority. Thus, sensitive matters like this should likewise be informed to the people as the military, is just an instrument of government which the people agreed to organize.
As part of my reflection, I hope we will not see again another Huey helicopter flying in our skies. This should be retired by the AFP as this was used during the Vietnam war. Out of respect to our being Filipinos, we should not be using this hardware which is as old as some officials in the AFP. I remember one of these types had also figured in an accident in Bukidnon killing all the crew. There is no open statement from the Air Force relative to the incident but we could assume that this is the reason that we could not see it operational again.
I had two occasions taking into the air through this Huey helicopter when I was with RMN-DYHB, before I joined government service. The first was during the case of insurgency in Candoni and the other was during the phreatic explosion of Kanlaon volcano. All aboard at that time never missed reciting our prayers and after landing, we felt the sigh of relief that we survived.
On a separate occasion, along with former Governor Isidro Zayco and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, we took the Air Force’Fokker plane to inspect areas devastated by the typhoon in Aklan during the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. In midflight, Secretary Teodoro came to tell us that there is actually an electrical problem with the plane that instead of taking the flight back to Villamor Air Base, it will spend the night instead in Cebu. We’re shocked to hear it until Governor Zayco inserted a comment to restore the jolly mood of those on the flight. I have in mind that this speaks about the state of our air powers.
The AFP should learn some lessons from these recent incidents. Those who died, though men in uniform, are not supposed to offer their lives because we fail to impose systems that protect them and their families. We need to look at ways that above all, ensure safety, especially that they campaign to fight the enemies of the state.