Palace condoles with kin of cop who died in chopper crash

MANILA – Malacañang on Tuesday expressed its deepest sympathy to the family of an enlisted crew member, Pat. Allen Noel Ona, who died in a helicopter crash in Real, Quezon province.

In a Palace briefing, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the fatal crash of the chopper that also severely injured pilots, Lt. Col. Dexter Vitug and Lt. Col. Michael Melloria.

“Una sa lahat, kami po ay nakikiramay sa pamilya ng isang crew member na namatay dahil sa crash na ito (First, we condole with the bereaved family of the crew member who died in this crash and we wish the two injured a speedy recovery,” Nograles said.

“Abangan na lang po natin kung ano iyong magiging resulta ng imbestigasyon na iyan ng DILG (Let’s wait for the results of the DILG investigation),” he added.

DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said there is no need for Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Gen. Dionardo Carlos, to go on leave amid the investigation on the crash of a police helicopter in Real, Quezon.

The chopper was supposed to pick Carlos up from the exclusive resort island of Balesin on Monday morning.

The helicopter took off at 6:17 a.m. in Pasay City and was initially reported missing but was later discovered to have crashed in Real, Quezon two hours later.

“He (Carlos) is still the chief PNP and it’s rightful for him to use the PNP chopper to be able to attend a forthcoming official duty when there are no other available means,” Año said in a message to the Philippine News Agency.

He also cleared Carlos of any liability and said the investigation will “focus on the cause of the accident” with the assistance of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).

The PNP National Headquarters has grounded the entire fleet of H-125 Airbus police helicopters while an investigation is underway in coordination with CAAP, the Department of Transportation, and other concerned agencies.