After deadly crashes Northern Luzon planes' airworthiness questioned

By Vince Jacob Visaya

TUGUEGARAO CITY -- The airworthiness of planes in Northern Luzon has been receiving flak from villagers amid recent crashes, the latest was the crash in Apayao that killed two pilots on August 3 this year.
    "The planes are decades already in existence. Every time we travel, we are 50-50 of landing alive. It is so hard for us who usually travel by plane from our coastal area to submit reports and attend meetings and other obligations in the mainland," Maconacon civil registrar Maria Teresa Oriarte said on Thursday.
    Another coastal resident, engineer Nellie Limboy of Divilacan, said their plight must be given attention by national and local leaders who should see to it that local airlines plying mainland Isabela or Cagayan to its coastal areas have safe planes.
    The villagers have brought to fore the usual concerns on airworthiness of the aircraft flying the Maconacon-Tuguegarao and Palanan-Cauayan City routes and other Northern Luzon routes.
    Earlier in August, retrieval teams recovered the bodies of the instructor-pilot and student-pilot who perished in the plane crash in Sitio Matad, Barangay Salvacion, Pudtol, Apayao.
    The body of 24-year-old Capt. Edzel John Tabuzo was turned over to his family while the body of student-pilot Anshum Rajkumar Konde, 20, was turned over to the Indian Embassy and later to his family.
    Tabuzo, who had his solo flight on March 11, 2022, was allegedly in control of the "routine flight"; with Konde as student-pilot.
    The recent air disaster has prompted the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines through its central office to review and revisit the planes, facilities and other amenities of airline companies plying Northern Luzon, Marlyn Sagursor, CAAP North Luzon manager, earlier said.

On April 14, 2009, after two weeks since it went missing on April 2 of the same year, the wreckage of the Britten-Norman B2A Islander plane, a twin-engine, nine-seater aircraft with tail no. 764, was found at a slope with thick forest cover in Sitio Bayang, Barangay San Miguel, Baggao, Cagayan.

The seven passengers were confirmed dead.

They were Captains Tomas Yañez and Reiner Ruiz, the pilot and co-pilot, Senior Police Officer 2 Rolly Castaños, Maconacon local government driver Celestino Salacup, Divilacan town councilor Abelardo Baggay, Sapinit village chief Joel Basilio (Divilacan) and Divilacan town zoning officer James Bakilan.

The plane, owned by Chemtrad Aviation Corp., and its crew were bound for Maconacon town in Isabela province when it met the accident.

The unpredictable weather and the "tricky mountain slopes" at the 265,000-hectare Northern Sierra Madre natural park are the usual concerns of pilots flying in the area as planes have been regularly checked for maintenance and certified by the government for airworthiness, according to Philippine Air Force tactical operations group reports in previous meetings.

Yet, villagers taking the plane ride in Maconacon or Palanan town have no choice because of the lack of road network to mainland Isabela, former Divilacan town councilor Nortencio Pecaat said.

"We are putting our lives at risk, but we have to because of important commitments in the mainland," Pecaat added. Former Palanan municipal civil registrar Isabel Castillejos said the government must develop a road network at the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountain ranges to possibly lessen plane accidents.

Aside from the recent plane accident, other noted plane tragedies in Cagayan Valley and Cordillera, as culled from past reports released by government agencies, include:

On Dec. 12, 2003, a British-made, high-wing, twin-engine turbo propeller plane (tail number RPC-868) owned by Chemtrad crashed onto a slope along Susong Dalaga in Dimapnat, Divilacan town.

The wreckage was found two days later.

Killed were Capt. Lamberto Melo, the plane's pilot, Capt. Marvin Regis, co-pilot; and Mario Valdez, crew chief.

The plane was on its way back to Tuguegarao City after airlifting passengers to Maconacon town.

On Dec. 7, 1999, an Asian Spirit twin-engine turboprop plane crashed along Mount Mamparang in Debibi, Cabarroguis, Quirino, killing 23 people on board.

On May 20, 2000, a single-engine Cessna plane crashed on the mountain slope of Susong Dalaga of the Sierra Madre mountains in Divilacan town in Isabela.

The bodies of Capt. Edgardo Castillo, plane pilot, and passengers, dentist Haydee Cabrera and her children, three-year-old Hazel and one-year-old Nicole, were found dead eight days later.

In 1993, four people including then Tourism regional head Conchita Santos were found dead after the single-engine Cessna plane crashed off the Sierra Madre forests in Divilacan town.