Sabotage is ”very unlikely” angle in chopper crash: Eleazar

March 8, 2020

Though the Philippine National Police (PNP) is not ruling out the possibility of “sabotage” during last Thursday’s helicopter mishap, the head of the special investigation task group (SITG) said this is “very unlikely”.

In a radio interview on Sunday, PNP Deputy Chief for Operations, Lieutenant General Guillermo Eleazar, said they are considering all possible causes after eight officials, including PNP chief Police General Archie Francisco Gamboa were injured when their helicopter crashed during take-off in San Pedro, Laguna.

“We are considering all (causes) but if what you mean is the sabotage (angle) they are saying, well in a fair investigation everything is being looked at but for me personally and based on what I saw initially, it’s kind of impossible… ” Eleazar said.

Gamboa, together with seven police officials, including director for Comptrollership Police Major General Jose Maria Victor Ramos, director for Intelligence, Police Major General Mariel Magaway and PNP spokesperson Police Brigadier General Bernard Banac wereinjured after the helicopter hitting a high tension wire allegedly due to “zero visibility” caused by the dust inside Laperal Compound.

Ramos and Magaway remain unconscious and are currently confined in a hospital in Muntinlupa City.

Eleazar said they will review everything from the lapses in the landing area up to air worthiness.

“We are looking at all angles… we will zero in on what we called air worthiness because it’s automatic even though we are saying the helicopter is new, insured and has continuous maintenance. We will review it at the same time we will also look into pilot error and the landing zone or landing site preparations… we will consider everything,” he said.

“It's so early for us to give findings of conclusion because we are still gathering, collating information and evidences, documenting statement of the witnesses, the survivors, the pilots, passengers and other who can help us in the investigation,” he added.

Eleazar urged the public to give any video footages or photos that can help them in their investigation.

“Our purpose is to find out the truth on what really happened. We will look into the lapses and importantly on how we can improve, evaluate our policies and guidelines on the utilization of our air assets to prevent this kind of incidents,” he said.

Tapping the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, Eleazar said they will look on the data collection unit of the Bell 429 which preserves information about flights.

“This is what we want to retrieve and after we documented this piece of evidence which we have already completed as of the moment we will sent it to the manufacturer and hopefully we can get information that could be our basis on the analysis that could corroborate on the other pieces of evidence we have gathered,” he said.

However, Eleazar said they can still make initial findings based on the available information and evidence.

Last Friday, Eleazar said they did not set any timeline on the investigation as they want to make a thorough investigation on the matter.

Gamboa, his aide de camp, and Banac left St. Luke’s Hosital in Taguig City while the two pilots and crew are still confined.

Gamboa said he will be go back to work on Monday. Ella Dionisio/DMS