Missing PAF pilot’s body found off Cavite

MANILA, Philippines - Almost six months since his plane crashed, Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Arugay’s decomposing body was fished out of the waters off Cavite and Bataan last weekend.

Air Force spokesman Col. Miguel Okol said Arugay was still clad in his flight suit when fishermen found his remains.

“The search for the missing PAF student pilot of the SF-260TP which crashed off La Monja last May, finally ends with the discovery of the remains of Lt. Michael Arugay off the coast of Mariveles yesterday (Saturday),” he said.

Okol said the Air Force had received a report that fishermen in Bataan found an unidentified body in a flight suit Saturday morning.

Following confirmation that the remains were that of Arugay, an Air Force helicopter airlifted the body from the Bataan police maritime command to Villamor Air Base and later to Sangley Point in Cavite, he added.

Full military honors will be accorded to Arugay as well as the processing of necessary benefits for his next of kin, Okol said.

Coast Guard spokesman Commander Armand Balilo said that Arugay’s body had been submerged for close to six months.

“Now that his body has been recovered, he could now be given a decent burial,” he said. “Traditionally, he would be given a hero’s burial.”

The Coast Guard said last Saturday, Capt. Jorge Laderas and his men onboard the F/B John Rose Jane went fishing in the vicinity of La Monja island in Cavite and Talaga Beach Resort in Mariveles, Bataan, and at around 11 a.m. of Nov. 3, their fishing net accidentally caught a body.

It was identified through a uniform, a flight suit with an Air Force badge and the name “Michael” printed on it.

Laderas informed the Coast Guard detachment in Mariveles, Bataan about their discovery. 

It was only later that authorities were able to identify the body as that of Arugay.