Plane carrying Cabinet execs skids off runway

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines – A private plane carrying top aides of President Aquino overshot a runway in stormy weather yesterday, shortly after Pope Francis’ plane took off from the same airport.

The plane’s nose wedged into the mud at Tacloban airport here but no one was injured, reports said.

Among those in the chartered Learjet were Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. and Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr., Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson, Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, Office of the President Undersecretary Emmanuel Bautista and Undersecretary Felizardo Serapio Jr., eight other staff members and three crewmembers.

They were among a group of senior officials in Tacloban to accompany the pope as he visited the survivors of Typhoon Yolanda.

The pope was forced to cut short his trip to the area because of intense rains and strong winds from Tropical Storm Amang (Mekkhala), which was less than 150 kilometers from Tacloban as the pope celebrated mass.

The pope’s plane took off from Tacloban shortly after 1 p.m. and arrived safely back in Manila about an hour later.

The plane carrying Ochoa and party tried to take off less than 30 minutes after the pope took off.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said initial reports said bad weather forced the plane to overshoot and get stuck in the grassy portion of the runway.

The chartered plane was a Bombardier GL50 owned by a subsidiary of San Miguel Corp.

“The President (Aquino) was happy to hear that all on board were safe and directed the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) to investigate whether the proximate cause of the incident was weather-related or otherwise,” Lacierda said.

Lacierda said everyone on the plane suffered no injuries and their families were notified that they are safe.

“All of them are physically safe and they are now at the airport lounge,” Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II added.

CAAP deputy director general for operations Rodante Joya said the plane skidded off the runway of the Tacloban airport while it was preparing to take off.

Joya said the aircraft lost control while trying to take off due to strong winds brought about by the approaching storm.

Philippine Air Force (PAF) spokesman Lt. Col. Enrico Canaya said the incident is under investigation by airport authorities.

Canaya said bad weather is hampering efforts to the remove the plane blocking the end of the runway, preventing another aircraft carrying the group of Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Francis Tolentino from flying out of Tacloban.

Tolentino said he saw the airplane carrying Ochoa and his party ahead of theirs.

“I saw it taxiing down the runway, then it overshot,” Tolentino told dzMM radio. – Jaime Laude, Lawrence Agcaoili, Rudy Santos, Mike Frialde, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Marvin Sy