Cover-up most foul

Several details about the 18 August 2012 crash of the aircraft carrying the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo were withheld from the public, including the possible absence of an automatic distress signal that delayed efforts to locate the ill-fated airplane and its passengers.

On 13 November 2012, former President Benigno Aquino and then Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas held a press conference in Malacañang blaming the crash to lapses of the pilot and on the ground that led to the death of Robredo and two others.

Aquino blamed the pilot Capt. Jessup Bahingting’s lack of experience and knowledge in maneuvering during “one engine inoperative emergencies.” He also blamed a defective plane engine for the tragedy.

Six months after the press conference Aquino called and nine months after the ill-fated Piper Seneca RPC 4431 brought Robredo to his death over Masbate Sea, the Emergency Transmitter Locator (ELT) suddenly emitted a distress signal from an airport in Pangasinan.

According to a Daily Tribune source at the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), the electronic distress signal of RPC-4431, the registration identity of the Piper Seneca that flew Robredo, was detected by a Search and Rescue (SAR) compass in Hong Kong at 12:45 p.m. on 15 May 2013 and which was transmitted to the CAAP operation center.

SAR is similar to a Global Positioning System (GPS) that provides the exact location of an aircraft. However, it turned out that the signal from the Ameri-King Model 406 ELT was coming from a Beechcraft Sierra aircraft RPC 1038 owned by a flying school based in Muntinlupa City.

“The electronic signal belonged to the Piper Seneca RPC-4431, but it was attached to another aircraft,” the source said.

The source cited the possibility that the plane that ferried Robredo did not have an ELT device and that it should have not been allowed to fly.

The signaling device was accidentally turned on while the Beechcraft Sierra was undergoing an engine check and technicians needed to manually shut down the gadget.

The absence of an ELT was not included in the final report from a probe body created by Roxas which issued a final report on the circumstances behind the crash that killed Robredo, Bahinting and student pilot Nepalese Khshitiz Chand.

The missing ELT also contributed to the delay in locating the plane. It took three days to find the wreckage.

Robredo’s aide, Police Senior Inspector Jun Abrasado, survived the crash. The plane was en route to Naga City from the Mactan International Airport in Cebu when it went down off Masbate.

The report on the incident said five minutes after take-off, the pilot sought permission from air traffic control to climb to 6,500 feet but was instructed to remain at 2,500 feet until 20 miles out.

Four minutes later, the pilot reported the aircraft was at 2,300 feet. That was the last recorded-communication of the plane with the Mactan airport’s air traffic control unit.

Data gathered by the Manila Area Control Center (MACC) showed that the Piper Seneca aircraft or Flight X4431 was at 4,000 feet. After eight seconds, it was still at the same altitude, moving 340 degrees.

The aircraft disappeared from the radar screen for a few seconds and reappeared at an altitude of 3,900 feet at 010 degrees.

Twenty-four seconds later, the aircraft was still at 3,900 feet altitude with a speed of 80 knots. This time the aircraft was 33.7 kilometers (km) from Masbate and 91.1 km from Mactan. Seconds later, the aircraft was monitored at 3,900 feet with a speed of 70 knots and heading 345 degrees.

This was the last data that MACC compiled for the aircraft before it disappeared from radar display, the report said.

At 4:25 p.m., the aircraft was reported to have crashed in the waters some 1.1 km from the airport.

A CAAP investigator, however, disputed the report submitted by the five-member panel to Malacañang because it did not include the accounts of Coast Guard divers who retrieved the bodies of the fatalities, the Piper Seneca plane and its broken parts from the seabed.

The Coast Guard report revealed that it was the student pilot and not Bahingting who was behind the driver’s wheel of the plane.

The investigator said right after locating the submerged plane, the Coast Guard divers reported that they found the body of the pilot, Bahinting, still strapped to the right co-pilot seat, indicating he was not in command during the flight.

“There was no categorical pronouncement as to who was at the left or right seat of the cockpit, a very vital information needed in the investigation,” the report said.

The draft report added the body of Robredo was not autopsied because it was cremated after it was retrieved, but the final report said he died of cardiac arrest due to drowning.

The report obtained by Daily Tribune also detailed the history of the ill-fated aircraft and its parts which showed that the engine of the plane was bought for $1 as surplus and which had a tampered serial number.

A disassembly report said the right engine retrieved from the crash site showed there was no problem with the propeller and that the right engine’s idler shaft was loose.

The stud that was screwed to the crankcase was also missing while another screw was loose and worn out.