GMA pays last respects to heroine pilot

President Arroyo paid tribute yesterday to Air Force pilot Lt. Grace Baloyo during a visit to her wake in Bacolod City.

"She is a heroine not only in Bacolod City but also in the entire Philippines," Mrs. Arroyo said in the Ilonggo dialect. "She died so that she could guide her aircraft away from a highly populated area. I pray that her courage and heroism inspire us all."

The President, who is on an official tour of the Visayas, made sure her itinerary in Bacolod included a brief visit to the wake of the 27-year-old female pilot, who went down with her aircraft in Mabalacat, Pampanga last week.

Baloyo’s twin engine OV-10 attack plane crashed in an empty lot in a subdivision in Barangay Mabiga, Mabalacat last March 26 after developing engine trouble. Her co-pilot Capt. Ben Nasayao was able to bail out a few seconds before the plane slammed into the ground.

Pilots from her unit said Baloyo chose not to eject from her doomed aircraft so that she could steer it away from the houses in the subdivision.

Baloyo had also been hailed a heroine in the Mindanao campaign, receiving numerous medals for her participation in air attacks that led to the fall of Camp Abubakar, the stronghold of Muslim separatist rebels. The Bacolod City government is also preparing separate honors for her. – Marichu Villanueva