ATO: Sabotage not ruled out in Air Philippines jet crash

An official of the Air Transportation Office (ATO) is not ruling out the possibility of a terrorist attack on Air Philippines Flight 541 that crashed on Wednesday, killing all 131 people on board.

This developed as an Air Philippines official said the airline received a call from a man last Thursday morning claiming to have bombed the plane.

Spokeswoman Leah Sison said the unidentified caller "with a heavy Muslim accent" made the call before dawn on Thursday, and threatened to bomb two more Air Philippines planes.

Tanquilino Oljol, chief of the ATO Flight Service Section at the Davao airport, said they have not really ruled out the possibility that the Air Philippines plane was bombed until transcripts of the cockpit data recorder and flight data recorder have arrived from the US National Transportation Safety Board in Washington.

Sison said their duty officer at the Manila Domestic Airport received the call at around 2:30 a.m., or more than 19 hours after the plane "dropped" on Samal Island near Davao City.

The conversation went like this:

"Hello? Air Philippines ba ito (Is this Air Philippines)?"

"Yes sir," the duty officer said.

"Huwag kayong mag-alala. Dalawa pang eroplano ninyo ang sasabog dahil sa maling pamamalakad ninyo (Don't worry. Two more of your airplanes will explode because of your wrong style of management)," the caller said.

Philippine Airlines (PAL) received a similar telephone call two weeks ago, prompting aviation security personnel and bomb-sniffing dogs to scour the plane.

Because the possibility of a bomb attack has not been ruled out, investigators have requested that the Air Philippines plane's wreckage remain at the crash site, Oljol said. The area is currently being guarded by soldiers from the Army's 701st Infantry Brigade.

"We have to wait for the results of the probe on the black box and it is only then that we can determine if the plane was bombed," Oljol pointed out.

He explained that the wreckage is vital in finding bomb residues.

"We understand that the insurance adjuster of the airline would want the wreckage to be buried, but we asked that we hold on to them first until the result of the black box probe is out," he said, adding that the wreckage might be re-assembled for further investigations.

Searchers have already recovered the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder, or the black box, and will be sent to Washington for analysis.

"It will take weeks before we would know the results," said ATO chief Jacinto Ortega Jr.

According to an airport transcript obtained by the Associated Press, the pilot of the 29-year-old Boeing 737-200 reported low visibility minutes before the crash. The Davao airport does not have full equipment for instrument landings.

The transcript also showed that air traffic controllers tried to hurry an earlier plane off the runway so the Air Philippines Flight 541 could land.

But the other plane remained on the runway, and the pilot of the doomed airliner circled and then attempted to land from the opposite direction, slamming into a coconut grove on a 450-meter hill on Samal island.

The plane "did not hit the ground sliding. It dropped from about 45 degrees," said Samal Mayor Rogelio Antalan.

None of the recovered remains was intact and many were badly charred, he said.

According to the tower transcript, the pilot reported that visibility was only about five kilometers as he approached the airport, considered marginal for visual landings, according to ATO. Visibility was reported worse over Samal.

Earlier, 71-year-old Marciano Tidosio, whose house was about 75 meters from the crash site, told The STAR that he heard at least four explosions before the plane crashed.

"The plane seemed to have exploded for four times. Then we just saw it dive straight to the ground. We saw that it was burning," he said.

Search teams have already completed their recovery of the mangled remains of the 124 passengers and seven crew members aboard Flight 541.

The bodies were taken to a military camp where 52 were identified by relatives, said Master Sgt. Ignacio Elminero, the camp hospital's administrative officer.

Five British forensic experts have been hired to help Filipinos identify the rest, Sison said. The experts have begun collecting blood samples from relatives for DNA tests, she added.

The crash was the third serious transportation accident in the country in a week, following two ferry sinkings that killed at least 148 people. Still, boats, planes and highways have remained packed this week because of Easter holidays, when many return to their hometowns.

Antalan said authorities will probably build a memorial at the crash site and a road for access.

"Whether you like it or not, people will want to go there," he said. "We are a tourism island and we wanted people to come, but not this way."

In a related development, Pope John Paul II sent his condolences to the families of the victims of the crash, the Vatican said.

"Deeply saddened by the news of the great loss of life caused by the airline accident... the Holy Father asks you to convey his condolences to the families of those who have died," Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano said in a telegram addressed to the Archbishop of Davao.

"His Holiness prays for the victims and asks God to grant courage and strength to those who are mourning their loved ones," Sodano said.

In Samal, relatives held a memorial service near the rubble of the jet.

The service was attended by Air Philippines president Jose Antonio Garcia and Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr., whose father-in-law was among the victims of the crash.

The airline company said Masses will also be held tomorrow in eight churches in Metro Manila in remembrance of the victims, Air Philippines said in a statement.

The service yesterday at the crash site was technically not a Mass because Catholics traditionally do not hold Masses on Black Saturday, the somber day following Jesus' crucifixion.

Islamic services will be held at a later time, the airline said.

Meanwhile, First Lady Luisa "Loi" Ejercito condoled with and assured of assistance the families and relatives of the victims.

The First Lady was sent by President Estrada to personally convey his sympathies and condolences to the grieving families. -- With Sandy Araneta, John Unson, wire reports