MANILA, 29 April 2005 — A Philippine Air Force helicopter crashed into a mountain in the northern province of Nueva Ecija yesterday, killing all nine people on board, including a Red Cross official and four volcanologists, officials said.
Philippine National Red Cross Governor Raymundo Punongbayan, a former director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), and four scientists were en route for an aerial inspection of a resettlement site in nearby Dinalan town of Aurora province when their UH-1H (Huey) helicopter crashed in Mount Maligaya near Gabaldon town in Nueva Ecija, police, authorities said.
Chief Supt. Rowland Albano, regional police chief in Central Luzon, said the helicopter’s four crew members were also killed. They were identified as First Lieutenants Reynaldo Gerrodias and Jason Salazar, pilot and co-pilot, and Staff Sergeants Edgar Ramolete and Wilbert Tacatac.
Phivolcs Director Renato Solidum Jr. identified the institute’s staff who died as Dr. Norman Tungol, 40, chief of the Phivolc’s geology and geophysics research and development division; Dr. Jessie Daligdig, 44; Dindo Javier, 41; and Orlando Abengoza, 49.
Senior Superintendent Alex Monteagudo, the police chief of Nueva Ecija, said the helicopter apparently burst into flames. Rescuers from the Philippine Air Force recovered badly burned bodies, he said.
Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross, said he was supposed to be with the group, which was planning to make a hazard map of the area to avoid deaths and damage during natural disasters.
Gabaldon and Dingalan suffered from massive landslides and floods last year in what had been blamed on excessive logging of their mountains.
Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Restituto Padilla said the helicopter took off from Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija at around 8:41 a.m.
Gordon said on local television that Punongbayan had inspected the resettlement area by land last week.
“He said he identified potential areas of danger (of further landslides) and he wanted to confirm it by air. So I went to Secretary (Avelino) Cruz of the Department of National Defense to borrow a helicopter,” Gordon added.
Because of the accident, the Philippine Air Force helicopters has grounded all its helicopters for inspection, said Maj. Augusto dela Pe?a of the PAF Public Information Office.
Investigators are searching for clues to determine why the chopper exploded in midair, as witnesses had said.
Accidents involving the Vietnam War-vintage Huey helicopters are common in the Philippines. The Philippine military is among the most poorly equipped in Southeast Asia.
A Big Loss
Science and Technology Secretary Estrella Alabastro said Punongbayan’s demise will be a big loss not only to the local but the international scientific community.
She said in a telephone interview that Punongbayan would be remembered as a “brilliant scientist-geologists par excellence” — who had been well known in the local and international circles of geologists.
“That’s why he was able to build the Philvocs into the top agencies of the DOST. He sent people abroad to study. He’s a well-known scientist. He also has this keen interest in developing young kids to become interested in Earth sciences. He really loves to give lectures,” Alabastro added. “He will be sorely missed.”
Punongbayan, 67, has retired from the agency in 2003 and has decided to join the Red Cross where he became its governor.
Alabastro said that the former Philvocs chief was in Nueva Ecija to assess the area where typhoon victims would be relocated. “He has asked the Philvocs to help him look at the terrain.”
“I’m personally devastated,” she said, revealing that she and Punongbayan were of the same batch at the University of the Philippines. They both graduated in 1960.
Punongbayan obtained his doctorate degree in Colorado. He has since helped send many of Phivolcs' staff, including some of his students, to study abroad.
Alabastro said the four Phivolcs men were a big loss to the Department of Science and Technology. “They are very big loss to DOST and the Philippines. We also lost three Phds in that tragedy and also very competent and young people,” Alabastro said.
(Additional input from Inquirer News Service and agencies)
