7 hurt in Nueva Ecija chopper crash

An Air Force helicopter carrying three crewmen and four TV journalists spun out of control after being buffeted by strong winds and crashlanded on a mountain slope outside San Jose City in Nueva Ecija yesterday, officials said.

Seven of the nine people aboard the Vietnam War-vintage Huey chopper — its two pilots, an Army officer and four journalists — suffered minor injuries, said Maj. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia, Northern Luzon Command chief.

Another Air Force Huey brought the injured to a military hospital at Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija, Garcia said.

"No one was seriously hurt. We made makeshift stretchers for the victims and applied the needed first aid," Col. Jovenal Narcise, commander of the Army’s 702nd Infantry Brigade, said.

The journalists from ABS-CBN and GMA-7 were en route to cover the exhumation of the body of a Protestant pastor who was allegedly executed by communist rebels in the area and buried in a suspected mass grave.

Narcise said he, Garcia and Col. William Campos, commander of the 71st Infantry Brigade, took the same helicopter on an earlier trip from a nearby military headquarters to the grave site.

GMA reporter Jiggy Manicad said their helicopter attempted but failed to land on a mountain clearing because of strong winds.

Pilots 1Lt. Paul Infante and co-pilot 2Lt. Melvin Banua decided to fly low to allow those aboard to jump out, but a gust caused the chopper to spin five times and forced it down near a ravine, he said.

Also included among the injured were GMA cameraman Greg Gonzales, ABS-CBN reporter Paul Henson, his cameraman Boc dela Cruz, and army Spokesman Maj. Vic Tomas.

Two chopper crewmen, Staff Sergeants Robinson Escano and Joseph Albayda were unhurt.

TV footage showed the helicopter lying on its belly with its tail bent.

"The wind was just very strong," Narcise said. "The helicopter crashlanded about 200 to 300 meters from the grave site. But there was no explosion."

Air Force investigators nevertheless were flown from Villamor Air Base in Pasay City to find out what went wrong.

Troops have found the skeletal remains of a Philippine Independent Church clergyman, identified as Dakila Lopez, who was abducted by New People’s Army communist guerrillas in May 2001, Narcise said.

He said Lopez was initially suspected by the military of providing support to the NPA but was later executed by the rebels for misusing their funds.

A former NPA supporter tipped off the military about the location of the grave, suspected to contain the remains of nine other people believed executed by the rebels during a purge in the 1980s, he said.

"Those buried there were believed to have been sentenced to death by the NPA’s kangaroo court," Narcise said. "Soldiers have been digging up the area for two weeks now. We think we can dig up the remains of no less than ten victims."

Communist rebels have been waging a 24-year Maoist armed campaign.

Military forces have been redeploying in the past months to meet an upsurge of NPA attacks. Many NPA targets have been civilian facilities like telecommunications and electricity towers.

The United States last year included the estimated 9,000-member NPA and its mother organization, the Communist Party of the Philippines, on its international blacklist of "foreign terrorist organizations."

Washington, Canada and a number of western European governments also agreed to track down and stop the rebels’ foreign funding sources as well as to freeze their overseas assets.

President Arroyo suspended talks with the communists in mid-2001 after the rebels assassinated two congressmen. — With Jaime Laude, Rey Arquiza, Benjie Villa, AFP