Duterte visits wake of 2 pilots killed in Laguna plane crash

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte pays his last respects to Captain Jesus Hernandez as he visits the wake at the Loyola Memorial Park in Parañaque City on September 5, 2019. Hernandez was the pilot of the Beechcraft King Air 350 with registry number RP-C2296 that crashed in Calamba City, Laguna last September 1. SIMEON CELI JR./PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte visited the wake of two pilots who died after their airplane crashed into a resort in Barangay Pansol, Calamba, Laguna.

Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, Duterte’s former aide, said the President visited their respective wakes at 11 p.m. Thursday, after his engagements in Malacañang.

Duterte first visited the wake of Capt. Jesus Hernandez, the pilot-in-command of the aircraft, at the Our Lady of Loreto Chapel of Villamor Air Base Mortuary in Pasay City.

At the same time, the President also visited the wake of two retired soldiers beside the chapel.

He then visited the wake of First Officer Lino Cruz IIII, the co-pilot, at the Loyola Memorial Park in Parañaque City.

The President expressed condolences to both pilots’ bereaved families and offered them PHP20,000 each.

On Sept. 1, the Beechcraft King Air type medical evacuation (medevac) plane with registry number RP-C2296 crashed in Pansol, Laguna.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), the plane, which came from Dipolog Airport and was supposedly bound for Manila to bring a patient, lost radar contact past 3 p.m. while flying 25 nautical miles from Manila.

Investigation as to why the plane crashed is ongoing.