What happened before the plane crash

MANILA, Philippines - Transportation and Communications Secretary Manuel Roxas II said the immediate search and rescue operations launched Saturday failed to find the plane with Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo and the two pilots.

Roxas secured the chronology of events detailing Robredo’s activities before the crash:

Secretary Jesse Robredo and his aide Chief Inspector June Paolo Abrazado and another policeman entered the commercially important person (CIP) room at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) terminal 3 at around 9:30 a.m. Saturday before his 10 a.m. flight on board Cebu Pacific flight 5J 553.

An official of the Public Affairs Office (PAO) of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) manning the CIP room said he saw Robredo talking to two nuns who were also passengers on a separate flight to Cebu.

Robredo left the CIP room around 9:52 a.m. to board his plane for Cebu.

Robredo arrived at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) at 11:45 a.m. on board Cebu Pacific flight 5J553 and immediately proceeded to Consolacion town to grace the groundbreaking ceremony of the Regional Training Center of the Philippine National Police.

At around 2:30 p.m., Robredo left the event and went back to the airport.

MCIA general manager Nigel Paul Villarete said he waited for Robredo and his party at around 3:00 p.m. and accommodated them at the VIP room of the airport.

Based on the information acquired from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and MCIA Public Affairs Division, Robredo was booked on Cebu Pacific 5J-572, scheduled to depart Cebu for Manila at 3:50 p.m.

But for still unknown reason, Robredo decided to take a private plane instead of taking the commercial flight.

Robredo chose one of the planes of Aviatour Air, an aviation company based in Mactan. Aviatour Air provides professional pilot training, charter, aircraft sales, and maintenance services.

Robredo proceeded directly to MCIA’s General Aviation area without passing through the MCIA main terminal building.

At 3:06 p.m. the Aviatour aircraft, a twin engine Piper Seneca, with Registry No. RPC 4431, took off at MCIA with four persons on board: Robredo, his aide Abrazado; Capt. Jessup Bahinting, the pilot who is also the owner-operator Aviatour Air and his co-pilot Kshitiz Chand, a Nepalese national.

At around 3:30 p.m. Abrazado sent a text message to Col. Ritchie Posadas, chief of the Police Center for Aviation Safety (PCAS), telling him that the plane was experiencing problem with one of the propellers and was returning back to Cebu.

Abrazado later told Posadas to rebook Robredo and himself for the earliest flight possible out of Mactan. 

Robredo and Abrazado were rebooked on Cebu Pacific 5J-570, Cebu-Manila that was supposed to leave at 5:05 p.m.

At around 4:20 p.m. Abrazado informed PCAS-7 and the DILG that they were making an emergency landing at Masbate Airport.

When asked if they were okay, Abrazado replied: “okay naman (we’re okay).” That was the last communication received by PCAS-7 from him.

The last communication received by the MCIA control tower from the plane was that they were at 150 feet descending on the final approach using instrument flight rules (IFR) to Masbate Airport on the possibility that they might undershoot the runway.

The plane was not able to make it to the runway and crashed into the sea.

Officials said the plane was 300 meters short of the runway when it crashed.

Abrazado survived the accident while Robredo, the pilot and co-pilot of the plane remained missing. – With Rudy Santos