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.
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