GMA lauds heroism of Air Force pilot who died in Paombong crash

President Arroyo paid tribute yesterday to Air Force pilot Aniano Amatong Jr. for showing remarkable heroism in making the highest personal sacrifice to save innocent lives.

"The President and Commander-in-Chief salutes the great courage of Capt. Aniano Amatong," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said.

"He clearly showed not only to our fighting men and women what the word heroism really means," Bunye added.

The Palace extended its deepest sympathy to the family of Amatong and "we assure his kin and fellow soldiers that this sacrifice will forever be enshrined in the roll of honor of the Armed Forces."

Mrs. Arroyo condoled with Amatong’s family at the pilot’s wake at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City yesterday morning. Amatong will be given a hero’s burial, the Air Force information office said.

Amatong crashed to his death Tuesday after steering a damaged ground attack plane away from a residential area instead of parachuting to safety.

He ordered his co-pilot, Capt. James Acosta, to immediately eject from the jet planewhile he stayed behind to maneuver.

As soon as he saw that local residents were no longer in danger, Amatong tried to eject from the attack plane but it was too late.

The Philippine Air Force said what Amatong did was "heroism in the highest order."

The twin-engine OV-10 was en route to a military exercise carrying the two officers when it crashed into a fishpond at 9 a.m. Tuesday in Paombong town, Bulacan.

Amatong, a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy Class ’96, was considered a "high-timer" pilot, having logged more than 1,000 flight hours.

The OV-10 has become the main fighter plane of the PAF after it decommissioned its F-5 fighter jets in October 2005.

They are used for reconnaissance and bombing missions during counterinsurgency operations mostly in the southern region of Mindanao, where government troops are still battling communist and Muslim guerrillas.

Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Jose Reyes ordered the grounding of the entire OV-10 fleet after the accident. The Philippine military is among Asia’s weakest and partly depends on allies like the United States to help train and arm its troops.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Air Force (PAF) is now concentrating on the recovery of the wreckage of the two-seater OV-10 Bronco plane that crashed in Paombong Tuesday.

Lt. Col. Restituto Padilla, outgoing PAF Public Information Office chief, said the recovery efforts were being hindered because of the poor roads leading to the crash site and because the wreckage was mostly submerged in the fishpond in barangay Dinakot.

"Medyo nahihirapan yung recovery efforts. Hopefully, we can finish it within the week," Padilla told The STAR yesterday.

Padilla said that the recovery of the remains of the OV-10 was important to its the investigation of the cause of the crash. — With Rainier Allan Ronda, Paolo Romero