Philippine military honors crash victims

Major General Jess Fajardo, Air Chief-of-Staff, and Colonel Cris Tumanda, commander of the Philippine Air Force Tactical Operation Group, lead the military honor as soldiers carry the coffins of those who died in a Nomad plane crash in Cotabato City in Mindanao. Those who were killed are Major General Mario Butch Lacson, commander of the 3rd Air Division; air force pilots Captain Genaro Gaylord Ordonio and First Lieutenant Angelica Valdez, Major Prisco Tacuboy, Lieutenant Alexander Ian Lipait and Staff Sergeants Ronaldo Mejia, Ianne Christy Marose Llamera and Jeffrey Gozon. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Mark Navales)

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / January 31, 2010) – The Philippine military honored a senior air force commander and seven other who perished in a plane crash in Mindanao.

Major Randolph Cabangbang, a regional military spokesman, said those killed were Major General Mario Butch Lacson, commander of the 3rd Air Division in Zamboanga City; air force pilots Captain Genaro Gaylord Ordonio and First Lieutenant Angelica Valdez, Major Prisco Tacuboy, Lieutenant Alexander Ian Lipait and Staff Sergeants Ronaldo Mejia, Ianne Christy Marose Llamera and Jeffrey Gozon.

Cabangbang said the plane crashed on a village in Cotabato City two minutes after it took off at around 11:35 a.m. Thursday at a military base in Maguindanao province.

Lacson’s group came from a conference in Davao City and was returning to Zamboanga City, but their plane had a brief stopped at an air force base in Maguindanao’s Awang town. (Mark Navales)

Philippine military plane crashes in Mindanao, 8 killed

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / January 28, 2010) – An ageing Philippine Air Force Nomad aircraft crashed Thursday in Cotabato City in the southern region of Mindanao, killing all 8 people onboard, including a senior military commander, officials said.

Major Randolph Cabangbang, a regional military spokesman, said among the dead was Major General Mario Butch Lacson, commander of the 3rd Air Division in Zamboanga City.

Cabangbang said the plane crashed on a village in Cotabato City two minutes after it took off at around 11:35 a.m. at a military base in Maguindanao province. “It is a sad day for us. All eight passengers and crew perished in the crash,” he told the regional newspaper, the Mindanao Examiner.

Lacson’s group came from a conference in Davao City and was returning to Zamboanga City, but their plane had a brief stopped at an air force base in Maguindanao’s Awang town.

Other reports said soldiers pulled out the charred remains of the passengers, including two pilots and a crewman. It was unknown whether there casualties on the ground, but the plane crashed in two houses which caught fire.

Cabangbang said there is an ongoing investigation into the crash. “We still don’t know what happened, but the plane is quite old. There is an ongoing investigation,” he said.

The Philippine Air Force has one of the oldest fleet of air crafts in the world, including about a dozen Nomad plane. (Mark Navales, Geo Solmerano and Beck de Asis contributed to this report)