MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said that the recent statements issued by officials of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) on the crash of the ill-fated Piper Seneca that led to the death of interior secretary Jesse Robredo and two others were all “speculative” because the agency has yet to complete its investigation.
“What was expressed in the media were personal conjecture and must not in any way be construed as reflective of the ongoing investigation,” the DOTC said in a statement.
The same statement said that the remarks made by (CAAP deputy director general) retired Capt. John Andrews were unauthorized and elicited from a joint congressional committee hearing looking into the cause of the accident.
“They are mere possible theories and not the result of a complete, impartial and thorough probe of the Special Investigation Committee created by DOTC right after the fatal plane crash,” the statement stressed.
Andrews recently declared that there was no foul play in the plane crash of the Piper Seneca.
The DOTC said that the committee’s investigation was still far from coming out with their findings.
“The inquiry is ongoing and when the Special Investigation Committee has carefully and systematically examined every part of the plane wreckage, collated and evaluated all relevant statements culled from thorough interviews of all individuals and organizations involved in the accident, only then can we issue official findings,” the DOTC said.
The DOTC said that the confusion caused by the remarks was unintended and the families and friends of the late secretary Jesse Robredo, Capt. Jessup Bahinting and the Nepalese student pilot Kshitiz Chand deserve to know the true cause of the tragedy based on facts.
The DOTC said that they will closely monitor the developments in the CAAP probe.