Passengers' relatives still hope for survivors

Victor Buenviaje woke up early to drive his nine-year-old son, seven-year-old daughter and his mother-in-law to the airport at dawn yesterday for an Easter vacation. It was the last time he would see them alive.

Victor Angelo and Veronica Buenviaje were with their grandmother on ill-fated Air Philippines flight 541, which went down in flames on Samal island early yesterday, killing all 131 people on board in the country's worst air disaster.

"They were just going for a vacation in Davao with their grandmother," the distraught father told AFP.

"I am still hoping that when I get to Davao I will see them alive," he said.

Araceli Fernando also said she would not believe her sister Karen had died in the crash until she sees the body.

Lawyer Alicia Serrano said she, too, could not believe that her son Honnard had died.

An immigration officer assigned at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport is blaming himself for the death of his girlfriend, saying it was he who bought her the plane ticket to Davao.

Requesting anonymity, the immigration officer said his girlfriend wanted to be with her family, who she had not seen for months, during the Lenten week break.

Airline officials gathered relatives of the passengers at two function roomsat the Philippine Village Hotel near the domestic airport as they arranged a chartered plane to fly them to Davao.

The mood was somber. Many of the women were sobbing, and became angry when by mid-afternoon the promised flight had not arrived.

Two uniformed security guards kept journalists well away from the group, but some gave interviews as they used the washrooms outside.

"They can't even confirm how many passengers can go today," complained a legal secretary who was checking on the fate of her boss' son, Conrad Serrano.

The woman, who asked not to be named, said the lawyer's son had taken the flight "to surprise his wife Claire."

Jamila Abbas, whose sister Cindy Abbas and cousin Kili Abbas were among those feared dead, waited patiently as she tried to comfort her elderly mother, Aslea Abbas.

"They say they can't identify the bodies. That's why we want to get there at once so we can identify them, at least by the clothes," she said.

Jamila Abbas said airline officials had told her family that only one of them would be able to board the first chartered flight to Davao, but she insisted on two seats.

"She is too old to go alone," she said of her mother.

"She might collapse. We hope they will show consideration so we can have two seats."

Buenviaje, the father who lost two young children, said: "No matter what their condition is I want to see them."

He said he had already booked place on another airline when Air Philippines officials offered a free flight.

"They gave us the runaround," he complained.