Rodrigo Duterte of Davao is people’s favorite for DILG post

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Who is the people’s choice to replace the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo?

Let’s take a look at the results of an online voting survey conducted by ABS-CBN’s Anthony Taberna in his “Punto por Punto” segment of the very popular “Umagang Kay Ganda program”:

Davao City Vice Mayor Rody Duterte got 44 percent of the votes from viewers who called, texted or posted their votes on Facebook or Twitter.

Duterte was followed by former Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca, with 22 percent; Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas, 9 percent; Manila Mayor Fred Lim, 7 percent; Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, 6 percent; Vice President Jojo Binay, 5 percent; Sen. Ping Lacson, 4 percent; Cavite Rep. Emilio Abaya, 2 percent; and Executive Secretary Jojo Ochoa, 1 percent.

I called up Rody Duterte Tuesday to ask whether he would accept the DILG post if it was offered to him.

His answer: No!

Here’s a guy who’s very much qualified for the most powerful Cabinet post because of his experience and expertise as a local official, yet, he’s rejecting it.

If I were President Aquino, I would do everything short of kneeling down before Duterte to convince him to accept the position.

* * *

I have witnessed man’s brutality to his fellowman as a police reporter for many years and as host of a public service program on radio that helps the oppressed and the downtrodden.

But nothing comes close to the indignity and oppression suffered by housemaid Bonita A. Baran, 21,  reportedly inflicted on her by  her employers, Reynold and Annaliza Marzan of 75 Las Villas del Cielo, Visayas Avenue, Quezon City.

Bonita told me the Marzans beat her up every day for small mistakes she made for five years.

The Catanduanes native, who is not even a grade school graduate, has gone blind after her eyes were allegedly gouged by Annaliza.

She showed my staff and I at my radio program “Isumbong Mo Kay Tulfo” scars on her face, scalp and back allegedly inflicted by the Marzan couple.

The scars were caused by being hit on her lips with a vase, struck with the butt of a gun on her eyelid, hit with hard objects on her head, or a hot iron pressed on her face, she said.

Bonita added that the Marzans made her eat cockroaches a few times.

I thought some employers in the Middle East were brutally cruel—yes, I’ve received many complaints from former maids of these households—but the Marzans are far more cruel.

* * *

Persida Acosta, head of the Department of Justice’s Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), told me that charges of serious physical injuries and serious illegal detention have been filed by her office against the Marzans.

The charges are nonbailable.

Those are not human acts, and if the Marzans are proven guilty, they should rot in jai

Mar Roxas is the new DILG Secretary

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Jesse Robredo as the secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is a very tough act to follow.

But Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas has accepted the challenge. He is the next DILG secretary, a highly placed source in Malacañang confirmed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer Thursday night. He takes over from the late Robredo who died in a plane crash on August 18.

Cavite Representative Joseph E.A. Abaya moves over to the Department of Transportation and Communications, the highly placed source also confirmed to the Inquirer.

Both Roxas and Abaya are stalwarts of the Liberal Party (LP), which is led by President Benigno Aquino. At the request of the Robredo family, both served as pallbearers during the state funeral rites for Secretary Robredo and both had been highly tipped to succeed the latter.

At least three LP members in the House of Representatives on Thursday said the President had made up his mind to move Roxas over to the DILG to sustain the gains made by Robredo who expanded the LP membership among governors and mayors.

No reply

Roxas has not replied to calls on whether he would accept the DILG post if offered by President Aquino.

Abaya, chairman of the House appropriations committee, on the other hand, had declared he would accept the job if offered by the President.

Others whose names had been bruited about, like Vice President Jejomar Binay, were quick to end speculations about their appointment to the DILG. Binay, who pulled a surprise win over Roxas in the May 2010 elections, has announced he will run for president in 2016, said he had no interest in the job.

He suggested, though, that Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., whom Mr. Aquino appointed officer in charge during the search for permanent DILG secretary, was qualified for the post, having been a top Quezon City Hall executive for years.

Control of DILG

Another Malacañang official said the party’s top brass had lobbied to the President to make control of the DILG by the party a priority over problems on criminality and the spread of illegal numbers games like jueteng, with the approach of next year’s midterm elections.

Another LP member of Congress, who refused to be identified for lack of authority to speak for the party, said LP leaders had made a strong pitch to the President to keep the DILG in the party’s hands during a lunch in Naga City shortly after Robredo was laid to rest last Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the LP held a meeting at its “Balay” headquarters in Quezon City to swear in new members from several provinces. An LP member present said the DILG vacancy issue was not taken up then as party leaders had already talked to Mr. Aquino in Naga the day before. The Balay headquarters is in the Araneta-Roxas family compound in Cubao.

But Iloilo Representative Jerry Treñas, another LP member who attended Robredo’s interment, said Mr. Aquino and other party leaders merely had lunch and talk of Robredo’s replacement never came up.

No discussion

“There were many guests at the lunch, including Cabinet members. No discussions were made on LP matters including the question of who would be the next DILG secretary,” said Treñas in a phone interview.

Abaya and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad Jr., another LP stalwart, did not reply to the Inquirer’s calls.

Former Isabela Governor Grace Padaca, whose name was also floated as a possible Robredo replacement, appeared uncomfortable being mentioned along with the likes of Senator Panfilo Lacson, Davao Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, who headed the DILG in the Estrada administration.

“I’m amused when the matter is talked about. They mentioned Duterte, Lim, Lacson, then Grace Padaca. It’s like I’m being lined up with these competent tough men (mga barako),” she said in Filipino in a media forum at Quezon Memorial Circle.

“Para lang akong salinggit (I’m just a runt alongside them),” she said.

But she added: “Hindi naman ibig sabihin na kami pong mga galing sa local governments ay hindi po namin kaya ’yan (But that’s not to say that we who came from the local governments cannot do the job),” she said. “Kakayanin, kakayanin talaga kung nandun yung challenge. Bakit hindi? (We’ll be able to measure up if challenged. Why not?).”

Padaca downplayed reports she was being considered for the DILG post, saying her name was mentioned probably only as part of “political chatter.” She said there were no such discussions in the Liberal Party, of which she is a member.

Meanwhile, DILG employees who are still mourning the loss of Robredo said they were ready to support his replacement, a DILG official said Thursday.

‘Back to normal’

Interior Undersecretary Austere Panadero said that while the employees were still grieving, operations were “back to normal.”

“The people are still in shock … it will take time but normal governance processes are ongoing,” Panadero said.

He said that among plans being pursued by Robredo before his untimely death on August 18 in a plane crash off Masbate was the relocation of informal settlers from Metro Manila.

“Well, of course, the new secretary would also have to pay attention to that, but at the moment what I’m saying is that Secretary Robredo had clear plans on how to deal with that so we are carrying them out,” Panadero said.

Final rites for Jesse Robredo

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MANILA, Philippines—A man for everyone, that’s how the late Secretary Jesse Robredo was described by Fr. Kulandairaj Ambrose of the Missionaries of the Poor, one of the officiating priests in the recently ended concelebrated funeral Mass late Tuesday morning in Naga City.

“Secretary Robredo has time for everybody. He could take breakfast in Manila, lunch in Cebu and dinner in Naga. He was there for you. He was there for everyone,” Fr. Ambrose said in his homily.

The Jamaican priest said Robredo is a true friend and he had mixed emotions upon learning he was the one to officiate the funeral Mass. “If you feel the ground is shaking, it’s not because there’s an earthquake, it’s because my knees are shaking,” he said.

He enumerated the good deeds the late secretary shown as mayor of Naga.

“In his presence, we felt no worry, he gives hope to everybody,” he said.

In the end, he said Robredo died doing what he loved the most.

Tuesday marks the final day of national mourning for Robredo.

Based on a bulletin from the government official website, the Mass will be followed by the conferment of the Philippine Legion of Honor (posthumous) on Robredo to be followed by the eulogy of the President and the State Funeral proper

“The casket bearing the remains of Secretary Robredo will be escorted from the Basilica Minore de Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia to the Funeraria Imperial. The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police will render departure and arrival honors,” the bulletin said.

Captain Bahinting not found in pilot seat on the crashed plane

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 CEBU CITY—Margarita Bahinting, the wife of Captain Jessup Bahinting, chairman and executive officer of Aviatour Air, expressed dismay at the reports that her husband was found on the right side of the cockpit, saying this was erroneous.

She said that her husband was on the left side of the plane, on the seat of the main pilot. She said the media reports could be misconstrued that Bahinting had allowed the student pilot, Kshitiz Chand, 21, to handle the plane.

Chand’s body was found floating near the crash site Thursday morning.

The bodies of the two pilots of the light plane that crashed off Masbate with Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo were flown to Cebu on Thursday.

The body of Bahinting, 61, was accompanied by his daughter Sarah Lynn on board a Beechcraft RPC 9980 plane, which landed at the Mactan Cebu International Airport at 8:01 a.m.

At 3:03 p.m., Cessna 182 RPC 2214 arrived with the body of Bahinting’s Nepali co-pilot, Chand.

Bahinting and Chand piloted the Piper Seneca plane that was supposed to bring Robredo from Cebu to Naga City in Camarines Sur. But the plane reportedly experienced engine trouble and was trying to make an emergency landing at the Masbate Airport when it crashed into the sea.

Bahinting’s body was retrieved from the right side of the cockpit on Wednesday, according to media reports. Sarah identified her father through his Fossil watch and ring.

Emotional

Bahinting’s friends and the students of Bahinting’s Aviatour Flight School formed a line when the small plane arrived. They were all emotional as Bahinting’s wife cried when the body bag containing the remains of her husband was pulled out of the plane, said former Cebu City Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem.

Bahinting’s body was taken to St. Peter Funeral Homes on New Imus street where the wake would be held until Sunday noon. It will be transferred to Ginatilan town, about 135 km southwest of Cebu City, for burial on Monday, said Sarah Lynn.

Chand’s father, Tek Bahadur Chand, and uncle Damand Chand arrived in Cebu at 3:17 p.m. on board another plane. Chand’s body was expected to be flown to Nepal.

Robredo Plane wreckage pulled out from the sea

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The wreckage of the Piper Seneca plane that crashed off the coast of Masbate and killed Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo and his 2 pilots is hoisted from the sea on Wednesday. The plane was recovered 800 meters from the shore at about 180 feet under the sea.

Robredo plane avoided crashing into populous village— Abrazado (survivor)

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 MASBATE CITY—It was a toss-up between hitting a population center and the sea with the crippled aircraft approaching the Masbate Airport.

Capt. Jessup Bahinting decided to head for the water instead, sparing casualties on the ground but losing instead Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, his copilot and his own life as well, in the tragic crash of the twin-engine Piper Seneca at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Senior Insp. June Paolo Abrazado, the only survivor, recounted the harrowing moments before the aircraft fell off Masbate City in a three-page statement in Filipino, a copy of which was obtained by the Philippine Daily Inquirer Tuesday.

Robredo’s body was retrieved from the sea on Tuesday morning. Bahinting and his Nepalese student copilot Kshitiz Chand’s bodies have yet to be retrieved from the hull of the plane.

Abrazado, Robredo’s police aide who clambered out of the aircraft before it sank and was rescued later by fishermen, said that the pilot was looking for the runway to make an emergency landing while the plane, which already lost its right engine, was flying very low over the city.

“There’s the runway! There’s the runway!” Abrazado quoted Bahinting exclaiming as they approached the airport.

But the aircraft missed the runway, glided to the left and headed toward the residential area of Barangay (village) Ibingay, he said. It seemed to him that Bahinting avoided crashing into Ibingay, one of the most populous villages of the city.

Like bomb explosion

As the plane banked to the right, sparing the village, it wobbled, “nosed up and nosed down,” and finally plunged into the sea, he said.

“The sound of the crash was indescribable. I can’t explain it. But it was like the explosion of a bomb,” he said. “My initial reaction was to hug Secretary Robredo,” he said.

Abrazado said he lost consciousness after that.

“When I regained consciousness, seawater was already rushing into the plane and the right side of the plane appeared to have disintegrated,” he said.

“But the door of the plane remained locked by a latch. There was a piece of wood that apparently pierced the glass pane of the plane. And the water kept rushing in,” he said.

Nowhere in sight

Abrazado said he looked around but could not see Robredo.

“We were seated beside each other. I did not know if it was me or he who got displaced. I just reached for my seatbelt because seawater was flooding the inside of the plane. I saw light coming in and I tried to surface. I did not know which part of the plane the light was coming from. I was rattled. I was losing my mind. I tried many times to unfasten my seatbelt but it seemed I could not even move my hands. When I unbuckled it, I squeezed myself out from the plane. I had drank seawater mixed with gasoline and I became dizzy.

As he floated away, he saw the plane bobbing up, with its tail the only visible part above the water. The tail, he said, was perpendicular to the surface.

“Then I could not move my hands again. I was still wearing my shoes and pants. I said to myself that I would die because I could not even move my arms. I assumed that my arms were broken,” he said.

Then he saw his bag floating. “I summoned all the physical strength I could to reach for the bag. My face was aching. My body was failing me. I grabbed the bag and it kept me afloat long enough  until a fisherman  came to rescue me.”

Abrazado said for about 15 minutes he was shouting and calling for help while the bag he was holding on for dear life was also slowly sinking.

“When I was rescued by a fisherman, I looked back at the plane. I saw no one from the plane was following me. I could only see what looked like debris,” he said.

He said he told the fisherman to rush him to the  Masbate police office. But the fisherman told him that a rescue team was waiting.

Abrazado’s nose was bleeding by then.

Danger signs

Before the crash, Abrazado had sensed there were problems with the plane.

“While we were still up in the air, the display panel that also displayed a directional map kept on flashing: ‘aviation expires 18 or November 28 2010.’ I can see from the panel a distance notification that said 20 to 26 miles. I don’t know what the expiration message meant. I wanted to inform the secretary about it but I did not want him to worry. I just made the secretary laugh by saying that there were many cases when a plane was flying with only one engine functioning,” he said.

“We were relieved when we saw the runway. Then when we were about to relax,  we began to be aware of the problem,” he said.

The aide said the plane began to swoop nose down when the pilot glided it to the right. “It was then that the pilot lost control of the plane.

“I wondered why the pilot chose to land in Masbate when he said we were returning to Cebu. In fact, I was able to reserve a plane ticket from Cebu to Manila.”

‘Check engine’ warning

Abrazado said when the group took off from Cebu, Robredo was rushing to go home because the Naga Airport would not allow a plane to land if they left Cebu at 2 p.m. They would be diverted to Legazpi City.

“Secretary Robredo was able to talk to the one in charge of the Naga Airport tower, and he got  a go signal,” he said.  “But we still took off at 3 p.m.”

Abrazado said he noticed that the plane looked old but he said the pilot told them that it was in good condition.

“I noticed that the copilot looked like a trainee and that he was a foreigner,” he said.

“After we took off from Cebu and while we were in the air, the display panel suddenly blinked and displayed: ‘Check engine,’” he said.

“The pilot told us that there was a problem and they could not proceed to Naga. Then Secretary Robredo told the pilot to just return to Cebu.”

“I felt the plane turn and I started coordinating with our staff in Cebu and asked them to book a Cebu-Manila ticket,” he said. “Secretary Robredo was relieved that we were returning to Cebu but we noticed that the flight was taking longer than expected.”

Then, Abrazado said, the right engine suddenly shut down and he and Robredo got worried.

Still, the plane was running well, he said, although the pilots were trying to restart the engine that malfunctioned. The copilot even had a very relaxed demeanor when he turned to them at the back, he said.

“We asked the pilot if we were nearing Cebu and we were informed that we would be making an emergency landing in Masbate Airport instead,” Abrazado said.

He said he tried to coordinate with the Legazpi Airport staff to provide a chopper as Robredo had an urgent engagement in Naga.

“While I was doing that, the plane was flying very close to the surface of the sea and I thought the plane was just making a final approach to the runway. I said to myself, we can survive this. I said even when the plane makes a water landing, I can manage to bail out and save my boss,” he said.

Abrazado failed to do that. He was knocked out when the plane crashed into the water and Robredo disappeared from his sight when he regained his senses.

Congressman Osmeña said he offered to help in Robredo search but was ignored in Masbate airport

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Cebu Representative Tomas Osmeña on Wednesday criticized the seeming lack of order in the search and rescue operations for Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo after his plane crashed on Saturday, saying that he hired a private plane to help but was waved off.

Osmeña, who described Robredo as a good friend for 20 years, said there was apparently little interest in the help he offered and that President Benigno Aquino  had to personally handle the operations himself.

During the hearing at the House of Representatives on the budget of the Department of National Defense, Osmeña said he rented a twin-engine plane and flew to Masbate City on Sunday after Robredo’s plane crashed. He said he would have left the night before but he could not have landed at Masbate City Airport then.

Given 5 minutes

Osmeña said he finally arrived in Masbate at 6 a.m. on Sunday. He said the control tower allowed him to land, but was told to keep his engine running. He was given five minutes.

He said he talked to the military and the Presidential Security Group (PSG) members who were present and told them that he wanted to participate in the search for his friend.

“I said,  ‘assign me a search area.’ They said,  ‘just take off,’” he said. “It’s not that they rejected it; They didn’t care,” he later said during an ambush interview with reporters.

At that time, the PSG was preparing for the President’s arrival. Osmeña said he had to take off before Mr. Aquino arrived.

PSG took over

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin explained during the hearing that at that time, the PSG had taken over the area and controlled the air movements. Gazmin also said officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) had not been aware of Osmeña’s arrival.

“Precisely, no one was aware of anything. Nobody knew what was going on,” Osmeña retorted.

He also said he asked for the location of the crash site, but was not given precise information. He decided to fly over the area anyway, and later headed back home. “I flew around. They wouldn’t even tell me where the crash site was,” he said.

“Just think when the President of the Republic has to act like a foreman during the rescue operations. It doesn’t speak very highly of the leadership of the AFP. Anyway, I would just like to bring that to your attention,” he said.

Robredo:"I'm in a hurry.. I have a flight to catch

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 CONSOLACION, Cebu - ''I'm sorry, I'm in a hurry... I have a flight to catch''.

These were the last words of Secretary Jesse Robredo to reporters who tried to interview him at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) just hours before the plane he boarded the private plane for Naga City.

Organizers of the Community Investigative Support (CIS) National Summit thought the secretary could not make it to the event because they knew he had a 3 p.m. Cebu Pacific flight to catch.

But he made it to the event, looking stressed and in a hurry, to read the message of President Benigno S. Aquino III.

Local reporters tried to corner Robredo after his speech but the secretary, who was in a rush to leave for his flight.

''He looked so stressed and was in such a hurry,'' said local reporter Ryan Christopher Sorote.

A source in the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) said Robredo was in a rush because his youngest daughter, Jilian, had won a swimming competition in the Palarong Panglunsod. ''He wanted to make it was eager to make it to the awarding ceremony of his daughter,'' the source said.

Every weekend, without fail, he flies home to his family in Naga City where he was once mayor, the source said.

''Because he is so busy, sometimes he would even take the last flight out on Friday just to be with his family in Naga,'' he said. ''But he always goes home to them.''

Robredo spent his Saturday in Cebu, meeting local officials and addressing the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Community Investigative Support national summit.

Hours before his plane crashed into the waters off Masbate, Robredo has even urged LGUs to ensure disaster and rescue preparedness in their respective communities to minimize the loss of lives during calamities, unsuspicious of the incident he was about to face.

And when a town mayor asked if they could meet again in the evening to discuss some concerns, Robredo just smiled and replied ''Let's meet some other time''.

Consolacion town Mayor Teresa Alegado, who was one of those who had a conversation with Robredo had taken notice of the warm weather of Cebu.

''Mabuti at mainit dito sa Cebu, sa Manila laging umuulan,'' Alegado quoted Robredo as saying.

Robredo was in Consolacion Saturday morning for the ground breaking of the Philippine Police Safety College.

''I asked him if we could meet again in the evening to discuss some concerns but he just said 'maybe some other time','' said Alegado.

Robredo and his aide Senior Insp. Jun Abrazado were aboard the Piper Seneca owned and piloted by Capt. Jessup Bahinting of the Aviatour Flight School and his Nepalese copilot Kshitiz Chand.

It was Aviatour's second crash in five months as one of its Cessna aircraft crashed into coconut trees near the airport in Camiguin last March 4, 2012.

A Norwegian national and the pilot were killed, while the Norwegian's husband, their three-year-old child and an Indonesian student pilot were injured.

But Aviatour's owner, Bahinting, is a veteran pilot, said Cebu City Traffic Chief Sylvan Jakosalem, a close friend of the missing pilot.

Aviatour conducts aerial tours and does charter flights to Tagbilaran, Dipolog, Tacloban, Bantayan, Camotes, Siargao, Guian, Camiguin, Caticlan, and Masbate. It also conducts pilot training courses.

Just five days ago, Bahinting was involved in a heroic flight that would have earned him the special Lifesaver Award from the City City government, said Jakosalem.

A zoo keeper was bitten by a Philippine King Cobra and Cebu City does not have anti-venom that would keep the victim alive. Jakosalem said he learned that Camiguin has anti-venom but it will take time to be shipped to Cebu.

Jakosalem said he contacted Bahinting and the veteran pilot, despite the bad weather, sent one of his Cessna planes and a Nigerian pilot to Camiguin to pick up vials of anti-venom that eventually saved the zookeeper's life.

Divers from Cebu found Robredo's plane

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 CEBU CITY—The three technical divers from Malapascua Island, a popular diving spot in northern Cebu, succeeded in locating the ill-fated Piper Seneca plane used by Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, because of their training and experience, according to their associate.

Matt Reed, 35, a British partner in a dive resort called Evolution in Malapascua, was diving with Anna Cu Unjieng, 37, a Filipino, and Shelagh Cooley, 29, an American, when he found the plane’s fuselage and Robredo’s body Tuesday morning at a depth of 50 meters in Masbate Pass.

In a text message sent to the Philippine Daily Inquirer Tuesday night, Reed declined to be interviewed. “Once the recovery effort is completed, then I will be happy to discuss it. Thanks for your understanding,” he said.

His Irish partner, David Joyce, 39, said in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon, that he would have wanted to join the Evolution team. “I discussed it with my wife, Emma, who is to deliver our baby anytime and I decided not to join them.”

Chief Supt. Vicente Loot, a Cebuano police official assigned to Eastern Visayas, said he contacted the three technical divers on Monday and asked for help in the search-and-rescue mission. He said he had been directed by police headquarters in Central Visayas to locate the divers.

Technical diving

According to the Evolution website, technical diving goes beyond the limits of recreational diving—a maximum depth of 130 feet or 40 meters, no decompression and always having direct access to the surface. This requires proper training and specialized equipment to be able to dive deeper, Joyce explained.

The divers must bring four tanks containing different gases, rebreather units and regulators (some for decompression use), he said. A rebreather allows the gas a diver exhales to be processed so it can be inhaled again.

Joyce said that returning to the surface should be precise and slow, taking 90 minutes to two hours or three meters per minute.

Loot said he assisted Reed, Unjieng and Cooley in carrying their diving equipment and facilitated their flight to Masbate at noon of Monday on an Air Force plane.

German volunteer

A volunteer German technical diver, however, fell ill during the deep-sea search operations. He was identified as Danny Brumbach, a consultant in a coral reef restoration project of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development.

An engineer by profession, Brumbach designs underwater turbines that help depleted corals multiply, according to Raymund Liboro, information director of the Department of Science and Technology.

Liboro said Brumbach and his fellow divers from the Boracay Scuba Schools Association volunteered for the Masbate search.

Reed started recreational diving at the age of 17 and has been into technical diving since he was 21, according to Joyce. He became a certified diver in 1990 and completed his open water course in the Mediterranean on Gozo Island, his website said.

Passionate

The London native went to Southeast Asia because of his love for diving and has over 6,000 logged dives and hits the water almost every day. He also teaches wreck diving, cave diving, mixed gas and rebreather courses.

“Both Matt and I are passionate technical divers,” Joyce said. “Matt is probably the most experienced technical diver in the Philippines.”

Early this month, Evolution technical divers performed search dives at 330 feet, which was a good preparation for the Masbate mission, he said.

The Evolution website reported that its exploration unit undertook the search for a wreck thought to be the lost MV Pioneer Cebu.

The vessel, which reportedly had 262 passengers on board, was lost somewhere near Malapascua when Typhoon “Klaring” struck on May 16, 1966.

Pres. Aquino brings Robredo home

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I think he wants to bring a friend home,” Budget Secretary Florencio Abad told the Philippine Daily Inquirer at the Masbate airport.

At high noon Tuesday, President Benigno Aquino took home the remains of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, fulfilling a promise to his grief-stricken family.

“Ma’am Leni, kids here. Honors drumming slow cadence, trumpet with mournful wail. So so tearfully sad. You’re home now Jesse,” Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas said in a Twitter message addressed to Robredo’s wife Maria Leonor upon landing with the President at Naga Airport.

Mr. Aquino flew from Manila to Masbate City upon hearing the news that Robredo’s body had been recovered three days after his plane crashed into the sea. He accompanied the flag-draped casket bearing Robredo’s body on the C-130 Hercules on the flight to Naga City.


On Tuesday night, the President signed Proclamation No. 460 declaring the period from Tuesday until the day of Robredo’s interment as national days of mourning, Malacañang said.

The proclamation said that, until interment day, the flag shall be lowered to half staff in Malacañang, in Naga City and at the Department of Interior and Local Government and offices under it. It also said the flag shall be flown at half staff in all government buildings and posts abroad for six days.

Retrieval operations for the two pilots who perished in the crash of the four-seater Piper Seneca along with Robredo—Capt. Jessup Bahinting, owner of the plane and CEO of Aviatour Air in Cebu, and Nepalese copilot Kshitiz Chand— were to continue Wednesday. Robredo’s police aide, Senior Insp. June Paolo Abrazado, survived the tragedy.

Roxas, head of the search and rescue operations in Masbate City, said the remains of Robredo and the two pilots were spotted by divers inside the fuselage of the ill-fated light plane, which was lying belly up some 800 meters from the Masbate shoreline at a depth of 50 meters.

In a hastily convened press briefing at 9:15 a.m., Roxas in a somber tone announced the “sad news.” He said that divers led by Matt Reed of Britain found the wreckage of the plane at 7:21 a.m.

“The body has indications that it belongs to Sec. Jesse,” said Roxas as he tried to fight off tears. “Sad as it is, we are now in search and recovery retrieval at 9:30 a.m.”

‘Absolute’ confirmation

Roxas said the President was informed of the discovery of the plane’s fuselage at 7:50 a.m.

Mr. Aquino had stayed in Masbate to oversee the Robredo search for two days but had to leave late Monday for Naga City, where he condoled with the Robredo family, en route to Manila, where he was to attend ceremonies Tuesday marking the death anniversary of his assassinated father, Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr.

Upon hearing Roxas’ report, the President sought further confirmation.

At 7:45 a.m., Reed—who had been briefed by authorities of Robredo’s physical features—made an absolute confirmation, Roxas said.

“The diver could not come up directly (to the surface) because he had to stay underwater for his decompression (sequence). So he sent up his (waterproof scuba dive) slate with the information that the fuselage had been found,” Roxas said.

Even after Reed confirmed that it was Robredo’s body, “we waited for the body to surface,” Roxas said.

But at 8:15 a.m., any lingering doubt was extinguished. Robredo’s remains were brought to the surface and transferred to a Coast Guard vessel.

From the vessel, Eli Antonino, sister of General Santos City Mayor Darlene Antonino-Custodio, gave a positive identification that the body was that of Robredo.

Found near the door

Eli was coordinating civilian divers and volunteers, “so she physically knew Secretary Jesse,” Roxas said. “Robredo was first to be accessed by the diver since … Secretary Jesse was close to the door (of the plane). He was slowly brought up,” he said.

“The airplane was inverted (when found) and in that configuration, the two pilots were closest to the dashboard of the cockpit, so they are really situated in the deepest part of the cockpit. Secretary Jesse, being a passenger at the back, could be easily accessed,” Roxas said.

Asked to recall the President’s initial response, Roxas said:

Aquino’s initial reaction

“The President was very quiet. He sought absolute confirmation, and when it was confirmed, I had to call him back. He wanted to make sure that there was a close kin beside Ma’am Leni.

“Unfortunately, Ma’am Leni was not in her house. So we decided to tell her, instead of her getting speculations from other sources,” Roxas said, recalling the President calling Robredo’s wife at about 8:15 or 8:20 am.

“The President has already talked to the wife of Secretary Jesse informing her of the developments,” Roxas said at the briefing conducted prior to the President’s arrival. The President also called up Robredo’s brother, Butch, who was in Masbate at the time.

Retrieval operations continued throughout the day to extricate the two pilots, Roxas said, assuring the families of Bahinting and Chand that “scuba tanks and other equipment are being deployed underwater to continue with the retrieval operations of the other bodies inside the cockpit.”

Malacañang announced Tuesday that Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. had been designated officer in charge of the Department of Interior and Local Government. It said that a committee had been formed to prepare  a state funeral for Robredo.

‘Complicated’

Roxas said the retrieval operation “was very, very delicate.”

“Jesse had been underwater for (three days), so it’s not easy to do this. The change of pressure … is very complicated, so we are seeking the help of the forensic people from the Army, the Navy, Philippine National Police, and the Department of Health to ensure that the body is preserved,” Roxas said.

He said divers—both military and civilian—exerted care in extracting Robredo’s body.

“The fuselage is inverted, so the retrieval was complicated because they could not just disturb the fuselage for fear of pushing it into deeper waters,” Roxas said.

The short briefing ended with Roxas thanking everyone for helping the government find Robredo. “The success is the success of everybody who helped. It was a massive operation. All of these proved that if Filipinos are united, they can accomplish good things,” Roxas said.

Supporters of Robredo thronged the seven-kilometer route from the Naga airport to the Robredo residence, many waving yellow handkerchiefs and ribbons and shedding tears. People patiently waited at the grounds of the house where Robredo’s family members were closeted.

Somber ceremonies

In ceremonies at Naga Airport, the casket was turned over by the President to Robredo’s widow while a 19-member band of the Philippine National Police played a sorrowful score in the background. Only the family of Robredo was allowed at the waiting area of the airport.

Mr. Aquino accompanied Robredo’s family to the funeral parlor where the remains were being prepared prior to public viewing.

In Masbate City, Mayor Joshur Judd Lanete II of Placer, a licensed diver, told the Inquirer that he led the team that found the fuselage as early as 4:30 p.m. on Monday. The team included environment officer Edgar de Lara, and Police Supt. Gonzalo Villamor.

But lacking in deep-diving capabilities, the local dive team decided to mark off the area with an improvised buoy made of styrofoam and relayed the information to the British diver, Reed, and his partners, American Shelagh Cooley and Filipina Anna Cu Unjieng of the Evolution Diving resort in Malapascua, Cebu.

All hands on deck

According to Lanete, during  their second dive which took them 50 meters below and lasted 27 minutes, they spotted the tail of the plane. “It was whitish … belly up,” recalled Lanete.

But since they didn’t have a closed-circuit rebreather system, which allowed for deep-diving, the group decided to swim up.

“We were just five meters  away from the wreckage,” said Lanete, who then  relayed this finding to the chief of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, Darius Tuason who, in turn, passed the information to technical divers and military officials.

Lanete’s team was among the first divers to rush to the crash site on Saturday night. But at the end of the day, Lanete said  the local divers were only too happy to lend a hand in putting an end to the suspense that had gripped the nation following the crash.

The massive search was a combined effort of uniformed services—Coast Guard, Navy and Army—and volunteer divers, enlisting 600 individuals, 17 ships of various sizes, and 9 aircraft.

President Aquino brings Robredo's body to Naga

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MANILA, Philippines (UPDATE) -- President Benigno Aquino III will personally bring the remains of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo to his family in Naga.
According to a post on Malacanang’s Facebook account, the metal casket bearing the remains of Robredo was transferred to the C130 plane used by Aquino.
"The President will personally bring Sec. Robredo's remains to Naga City, to the Archbishop Palace where his family will be waiting," it said.
Aquino arrived at the Mactan Cebu International Airport at around 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday on board the C-130. In tow are several Cabinet officials, including Transport Secretary Manuel "Mar" Roxas II.
Roxas earlier announced that the body of Robredo was recovered at the Ticao Channel, off the coast of Masbate.
"At 8:15 a.m. kumpirmadong ang isa sa mga katawan ay kay Secretary Robredo," Roxas said.
Divers found the plane's fuselage 180 feet under water at around 7:30 a.m. Robredo's body was found inside the fuselage at 7:45 a.m. and his body was brought to the surface at 8:40 a.m.
Meanwhile, divers have also identified another body from the wreckage as retrieval operations are still ongoing for Capt. Jessup Bahinting and Nepalese Kshitiz Chand.
The government will employ remotely operated underwater vehicles to help in the retrieval and allow the divers to rest after being underwater for more than an hour.
Arrangements being made
In an interview with ANC, lawyer Irene Aguila said arrangements are being made for the wake of Robredo. Aguila is Robredo’s executive assistant.
“The viewing will start later this afternoon or early evening at the Archbishop Palace. We’ll keep you posted as to the other arrangements…To be safe, the public viewing will start this evening at the Archbishop Palace, we’ll keep you posted,” she said.
She added other details are still being finalized. Robredo’s remains may also be flown to Manila.
“I understand that’s part of the arrangements being made. As to the date, they are still not final. We should have the details perhaps by tonight,” Aguila said.
In the meantime, she asked the media and the public to allow the family to be alone with the Cabinet secretary. “We are asking that the media give them some space and some time to be alone with the secretary.

Robredo was found dead

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MANILA, Philippines (3rd UPDATE) – The body of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo was found Tuesday morning, Transport and Communications Secretary Mar Roxas II said.
"At 8:15 a.m. kumpirmadong ang isa sa mga katawan ay kay Sec, Robredo," Roxas said.
Reports have yet to be confirmed if the bodies of Capt. Jessup Bahinting and Nepalese Kshitiz Chand have already been retrieved.
Divers found the plane's fuselage around 7:30 a.m. Robredo's body was found inside the fuselage at 7:45 a.m. His body was brought to shore at 8:40 a.m.
Roxas said the remains of the Interior secretary was found 800 meters off Masbate at 180 feet deep.
Robredo's wife, Atty. Maria Leonor Gerona-Robredo, has been informed personally by President Aquino, according to Roxas.
"The President was very quiet, he sought absolute confirmation. Nung kumpirmadong-kumpirmado na, he wanted to make sure na may malapit kay Ma'am Leni na katabi niya. Ma'am Leni was in her house at malayo pa ang mga kilala naming malapit sa kanya, pinagpasyahan na sabihin kay Ma'am Leni na direkta," he said.
"Iyung dalawang pilot nakasubsob sa cockpit, so si Sec. Robredo ang unang nakuha at dahan-dahang inakyat," Roxas said.
Roxas said a technical diver was able to identify Robredo after being briefed of the Cabinet official's last attire.
"The diver could not come up directly, so he sent up his slate with information that the fuselage was found and 'yun ang sinabi na may indications na si [Sec. Robredo ang natagpuan]. Binigyan siya [ng information] sa bihis ni Sec. Jess, ang sunod na balita na pinaabot niya ay si Sec. Jess nga," he said.
Jun Lavadia, the family's spokesperson, is not available for comment at this point. The house of the Robredos was also closed to the media, a radio dzMM report said.
Robredo's older brother, Butch, also asked for more time before the family could release a statement.
Bahinting's wife Margaret, meanwhile, said: "I have just been thankful to God because this morning I was praying na ma-retrieve na ang mga katawan nila na sana hindi na matagal. Whether they are dead or alive, as long as makita ko ang katawan."
The small Piper plane carrying Robredo, his aide, and two pilots crashed 150 meters away from Masbate airport around 4:30 p.m. Saturday as it attempted to make an emergency landing due to engine trouble.
Robredo’s aide, Jun Abrazado, survived the crash and was rescued from the site on Saturday.
Robredo’s plane came from Mactan, Cebu and was headed to Naga City when it encountered trouble. He was rushing home so he could attend an afternoon awarding ceremony for his daughter, Jillian, who won a swimming competition in the Palarong Panglungsod.
President Benigno Aquino III went to Masbate early Sunday morning to oversee the search and rescue efforts.
The 54-year-old Robredo was appointed by President Aquino as secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government on July 9, 2010.
Robredo finished his undergraduate at the De La Salle University with a degree on Industrial Management Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.
He finished his Masters in Business Administration at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman before taking up Public Administration at John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Robredo was elected mayor of Naga City in 1988 at the age of 29. When he took office, Naga was a poor third-class city with low revenues and a stagnant economy.
Robredo partnered with private businesses to revitalize the city’s economy and re-organized Naga’s transportation systems. By 1990, Naga had become a first-class city and Robredo was re-elected.
Robredo was a recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service in 2000, Asia's equivalent of the Nobel Prize. Robredo was cited by the board of trustees as “giving credence to the promise of democracy by demonstrating that effective city management is compatible with yielding power to the people.”
Robredo is survived by his wife, Atty. Maria Leonor Gerona-Robredo, and his three children, Aika, Patricia and Jillian Therese.

Robredo's body was found- Mar Roxas

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 MANILA, Philippines – Technical divers have recovered the body of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, Transportation and Communication Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas said on Tuesday.

An emotional Roxas broke the “sad news” at a briefing at 9:15 a.m., saying that Robredo’s body was found 800 meters from the shore at a depth of 180 feet at 7:45 a.m .

“The body has indications that it belongs to Sec. Jess,” said Roxas as he tried to fight off tears.

The remains of the Department of Interior and Local Government chief has been pulled from the fuselage and brought by rubber boat to one of Philippine Coast Guard’s vessels. It is now on its way to Naga City, Roxas said.

Recovery was difficult as the fuselage had overturned but operations continued to retrieve the bodies of the two pilots who were found inside the Piper Seneca plane. “Nakasubsob ‘yung dalawang piloto sa loob ng cockpit kaya si Sec. Jesse ang unang nakuha ng diver (The two pilots were inside the cockpit that’s why they recovered Sec. Jesse’s body first),” said Roxas.

“Sa pamilya nina Captain [Jessup] Bahinting and the Nepalese co-pilot [flight student Kshitiz Chand], tuloy po ang recovery operations. Hindi ito para lang kay Sec. Jesse (The recovery operations for the remains of Captain Bahinting and the Nepalese co-pilot are ongoing. This is not only for Sec. Jesse),” said Roxas.

President Benigno Aquino III has been told about the development and has personally informed the DILG chief’s wife, lawyer Leni Robredo.

“The President has already called Mrs. Leni,” said Roxas.

Roxas asked the media and the public to give the Robredo family time to cope with what has happened. He also told them not to disrupt forensic experts who will be examining the bodies.

The official confirmation came after four days of massive search and rescue operations headed no less by President Aquino.

Divers can't find Robredo and 2 pilots

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President Benigno Aquino on Sunday took the lead in the search for Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, a day after a light plane carrying the local government chief and three others crashed in waters off Masbate.

Mr. Aquino flew to Masbate early Sunday morning to oversee the search for the wreckage of the four-seat Piper Seneca that crashed into the sea while attempting an emergency landing about 5 p.m. on Saturday.

More than 300 rescuers were scouring the area about 500 meters from the shore of Masbate City for Robredo, who was missing along with the plane’s two pilots.

Robredo’s bodyguard, Chief Insp. Jun Abrasado, made a dramatic escape from the doomed plane and was rescued by fishermen. Abrasado was helping in the search, officials said.

Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas, who accompanied Mr. Aquino and was designated as official spokesperson for the search, said special sonar equipment had been flown to Masbate to help in the search operation after some debris, including one wing of the missing plane, was recovered.

“We just want to do everything we can to save him [Robredo],” Roxas said in a message on Twitter.

“We remain hopeful that Secretary Robredo was just carried by the current … and that he will be found,” Roxas said, adding that Mr. Aquino was “very emotionally attached” to Robredo and was doing everything he could to help find him.

Four people were on the private plane that was heading for Naga City in Camarines Sur province from Cebu City when it malfunctioned and crashed in waters between Masbate and Ticao Islands.

Missing, aside from Robredo, were Capt. Jessup Bahinting, the pilot and CEO of Aviatour Air that owned the aircraft, and Kshitiz Chand, the Nepalese copilot.

At about 3 p.m. Sunday, Masbate Bantay Dagat reported to City Mayor Socrates Tuason that a large object had been detected on the seafloor.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) also reported that a Navy vessel’s sonar had detected “something metallic” on the sea floor.

“The sonar showed it was something metallic. But it’s not definite yet if that was really part of the airplane,” NDRRMC Executive Director Benito Ramos said by phone.

Hoping for best

“We are hoping for the best that there are still survivors,” Ramos said.

When the Philippine Daily Inquirer sought confirmation from Roxas by phone, he replied: “Nothing yet. Some underwater, seabed disturbances of indeterminate origin indicated by sonar.”

At 4:30 p.m., however, reports came that the flight manifest of the plane with the names of Robredo, Abrasado and the pilots were found in waters 750 meters off the shore.

Roxas confirmed the recovery of the document. He said the diver who recovered it reported finding it at a depth of 45 meters “alongside tracks” on the sea floor.

Earlier, Roxas said Coast Guard, Navy and police divers were searching for the wreckage in depths of 40 meters to 80  meters in an area about 200 meters from the tip of the runway of Masbate Airport.

Coast Guard divers reported seeing what looked like skid marks on the sea floor.

Wreckage dragged

Roxas said the marks could be a sign that strong undercurrents were dragging the wreckage of the plane.

With that possibility, Roxas ordered the Coast Guard to delineate an area where the wreckage could be.

Malacañang could not say whether the President was staying in the area the whole day overseeing the air and surface operations to find Robredo and the others missing.

Tweets by InquirerSLB and ABS-CBN television said, however, the President was staying overnight in Masbate to continue supervising the search operation.

Accompanying Mr. Aquino were Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Philippine National Police Chief Nicanor Bartolome, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and Rep. Jun Abaya, president of the ruling Liberal Party.

Contrary to reports late on Saturday, the search went on overnight, according to presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda.

More equipment were deployed Sunday morning to intensify the search for the wreckage, he said.

US help

A flyby on Saturday night by a US aircraft failed to pinpoint the location of the wreckage, Roxas said.

Lt. Cmdr. Armand Balilo, Coast Guard spokesperson, said “big fishing boats with powerful lights helped in the search, trying to locate the plane’s wreckage,” but they had “no success so far.”

Balilio confirmed that the Coast Guard had sought help from the US Coast Guard.

“We gave the grid coordinates of the crash site to our American counterpart,” Balilo said. “We hope they can dispatch today one of their Lockheed P3 Orion aircraft to help in the search for the missing plane.”

Witnesses

Mayor Tuason said witnesses saw the plane trying to land at Masbate Airport at about 4:20 p.m. Saturday. But the plane suddenly plunged into the sea about 200 meters from the shore, he said.

Robredo attended groundbreaking rites for the new PNP Regional Training Center in Cebu City on Saturday. He was supposed to return to Manila on a Cebu Pacific flight that was to depart at 5:30 p.m.

But “for reasons known only to Secretary Robredo, he decided to take a private plane instead of taking the commercial flight,” Roxas said in a statement posted on the government’s official website.

“The secretary opted to fly using one of the planes of Aviatour Air, an aviation company based in [Mactan-Cebu International Airport],” he said. Aviatour Air provides professional pilot training, charter services, aircraft sales and maintenance services.

Last hours

According to records at the Police Center for Aviation Security 7 (PCAS-7) and the public affairs division of Mactan-Cebu airport, the Piper Seneca took off at 3:06 p.m. It was headed for Naga City.

But at around 3:30 p.m., Abrasado sent a text message to Col. Ritchie Posadas, PCAS-7 chief, to say the plane was returning to Cebu because it was experiencing problems with one of its propellers.

Abrasado requested that Robredo’s flight to Manila be rebooked.

At around 4:20 p.m., the aide called again with the information that the plane was attempting an emergency landing at Masbate Airport.

When asked if he and his companions were all right, Abrasado replied in Filipino, “We’re fine.”

That was the last thing PCAS-7 heard from Abrasado.

The last communication received by the control tower at Mactan-Cebu airport reported the plane to be at 45 meters, descending, on the final approach to Masbate Airport’s runway, using instrument flight rules. The communication said the plane might undershoot the runway.

Then nothing more.

Abrasado survived the crash with minor injuries.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said Robredo’s security should not have allowed him to travel on a light plane going to a destination where he would arrive after dark. He said that was “inadvisable.”

Prayers

Prayers poured in from public officials Sunday for Robredo’s safety.

Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was among those praying for Robredo to be found safe, according to her spokesperson, Elena Bautista-Horn.

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara said people should hang on to the hope that Robredo would be found alive.

Pres. Aquino remains ‘hopeful’ Robredo and 2 pilots still alive

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MANILA, Philippines –   President Benigno Aquino III is still “hopeful” that Interior Secretary   Jesse Robredo and   the two pilots missing   in a plane crash Saturday afternoon are still alive as search and  rescue operations  (SaR) resume  this Monday morning.

“(Aquino) is very, very serious, very somber. When we had  dinner  late  last night , he was very quiet,”  Transportation Secretary Manuel “Mar’ Roxas  said in  Filipino in a television interview on Monday.

That night,   Roxas said, the President only talked about the good times and memories with Robredo.

“He was just very quiet ,  very somber, very determined. The President is still hopeful. Sabi nya Mar, search and rescue ito,” Roxas added.

Aquino  and Roxas and other government officials immediately  flew to Masbate early Sunday or  a day  after  a Piper Seneca   plane  carrying  Robredo and three  others crashed  off Masbate waters  at around  5:00 pm. Saturday.

Robredo’s   aide, June Paul Abrazado, survived   but the Secretary and the two pilots remained   missing.

Two days after  the crash, the  Aquino  government  has no plans  on giving up on Robredo and the two pilots  as it launched an intensified  and massive efforts  to find them.

Roxas said the search and rescue operations will resume at around 10:00 am or 11:00 am with technical divers, who would probe the depths of up to 250 feet.

A special equipment from the United States called “forward  looking infra-red”  will also be used  to  detect signs of life amid the debris, he added.

Robredo’s plane crash: Chronology of events

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MANILA, Philippines – He was originally booked to take a commercial flight, but “for reasons known only to Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo,” he decided to take a private plane that crashed off Masbate waters Saturday afternoon.

Hours before the plane crash, Robredo was at Consolacion, Cebu to attend the ground breaking ceremony of the new PNP Regional Training Center.

At around 2:30 p.m., he left the site and proceeded to Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) to book his flight  to n Naga City .

Based on the information acquired from Police Center for Aviation Security 7 (PCAS-7)/DILG and MCIA Public Affairs Division, Robredo was booked on Cebu Pacific 5J572, Cebu-Manila  ETD 3:50 p.m.

“For reasons known only to Secretary Robredo, he decided to take a private plane instead of taking the commercial flight,” said a statement from the office of Transportation   Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas posted in government’s official website.

“The Secretary opted to fly using one of the planes of Aviatour Air, an aviation company based in MCIA,” it said.

Aviatour Air provides professional pilot training, charter, aircraft sales, and maintenance services.

Robredo then proceeded directly to MCIA’s General Aviations area without passing through the MCIA main terminal building, the statement said.

At 3:06 p.m., the Aviatour aircraft, a twin engine Piper Seneca, with Registry No. RPC 4431, took off at MCIA with four persons on board: Capt. Jessup Bahinting, the pilot who is also the owner, chairman, and CEO of Aviatour Air, co-pilot Kshitiz Chand, a Nepalese national, Secretary Robredo, and his aide Police Chief Inspector June Paolo Abrazado.

But at around 3:30 p.m., Abrazado sent a text message to Col. Ritchie Posadas, PCAS-7 chief to tell him that they were returning back to Cebu because the six-seater plane was experiencing problem with one of the propellers.

Abrazo requested to rebook for the earliest flight possible out of Mactan and so they were booked for the 5:05 p.m Cebu-Manila flight of Cebu Pacific 5J570.

At around 4:20 p.m., however, Abrazado informed PCAS-7 and DILG personnel that they were making an emergency landing at Masbate Airport.

When asked if they were okay, Abrazado replied, “Okey naman.”

That was the last communication received by PCAS-7 from Robredo’s aide, the statement said.

The last communication received by the MCIA control tower from the plane, on the other hand,  was that they were 150 feet, descending, on the final approach using instrument flight rules (IFR) to Masbate Airport and that they might undershoot the runway.

As of 10 a.m. Roxas said Robredo is still missing and search and rescue operations are still ongoing.

Abrazado survived the incident while the pilot and co-pilot of the plane remained missing.