9th passenger lucky to be alive

MANILA, Philippines - “I think it’s not my time yet.”

That was all Col. Cris Tumanda, the ninth passenger of the ill-fated Nomad airplane that crashed yesterday and claimed the lives of his colleagues in the Air Force, could say.

Tumanda, a Filipino word which means to grow old, said he was lucky to be alive.

He stressed that the aircraft showed no signs of engine trouble during the early stages of the flight.

Tumanda, group commander of the Air Force’s Tactical Operations Group 12 (TOG-12), was among the nine military officers who initially boarded the airplane on the flight from Davao to Zamboanga City.

The plane landed in Cotabato City to drop off Tumanda who had to report back for duty at the Air Force’s 3rd Air Division in the city.

Shortly after takeoff, the 12-seater twin prop airplane crashed into a subdivision, killing all eight passengers on board, as well as a civilian on the ground.

Among those killed were Tumanda’s immediate superior, Maj. Gen. Mario “Butch” Lacson.

Tumanda said he was shocked and dismayed when he learned that the airplane that he boarded earlier had crashed.

“We (at the Air Force) are very sad. We were together for several hours before they perished,” Tumanda later told reporters.

Tumanda recounted that during the flight, the aircraft showed no sign of any trouble, describing the trip as a smooth flight.

He stressed no one among them showed any signs of premonition.

“I did not feel General Lacson was showing signs of anything. We were happy,” Tumanda said.

Tumanda said Lacson even promised to return to Cotabato City to celebrate the 37th anniversary of the TOG 12.

“I was sad that we lost him because he was supposed to be our guest of honor during our anniversary,” Tumanda said.

Even those on the ground had no idea that death would come from the sky.

Witnesses claimed seeing the airplane wiggling before it crashed.

“It appeared that the plane’s engine was in trouble,” said one resident who identified himself as Samson.

Esmayla Tuastumban, who lives in a house nearby, said she was in the kitchen preparing lunch when she heard a roaring sound above their roof.

“Suddenly I heard a very loud noise, as if big trucks collided head-on. I thought a bomb fell on our neighbor’s house,” Tuastumban said.

One resident, identified as Inday Modrano, was not so fortunate.

Modrano was at the exact spot where the airplane crashed, according to some of the villagers who witnessed the incident in Virgo Subdivision in Cotabato City.

The plane first slammed on the roof of a house of a certain Rogelio Daet before it hit two nearby houses and burst into flames, triggering a fire that burned several houses in the area.

According to Sam Mundas, leader of the local rescue group, Modrano was standing at the exact spot where the plane crashed.

“We have to excavate the ground using a small backhoe excavator to find her (body),” he said. -With John Unson