Investigators retrieve items from a police helicopter that crashed in San Pedro, Laguna province, south of Manila, Philippines Thursday, March 5, 2020. The helicopter carrying the Philippine national police chief, three generals and four people crashed Thursday after hitting a power cable in a swirl of dust as it took off, injuring those on board, police officials said. (Photo by AARON FAVILA / AP)
MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Archie Gamboa on Monday ruled out “sabotage” as the reason behind the helicopter crash that he survived last week.
Last Thursday, the Bell 429 chopper that carried Gamboa and seven others crashed in San Pedro, Laguna province after it got in contact with a live wire.
READ: Chopper carrying PNP chief Gamboa crashes in Laguna
“Of course, ‘yung sabotage, sinadya, I don’t believe so. Ako personally convinced ako, nandoon ako sa loob ng helicopter, nobody in his right mind, even what kind of interest he has in his mind would do that,” Gamboa told reporters in a press conference in Camp Crame.
(I don’t believe that there is sabotage. I am personally convinced that nobody in his right mind would do that.)
READ: PNP chief Gamboa, 7 others survive chopper crash in Laguna – Eleazar
“So, ang general term lang na aksidente, hindi ‘yun sinadya ng kahit sino naman doon sa involved… Ako, I strongly believe na walang sabotahe doon,” he added.
(The general term is an accident; it was not intended to happen by anyone involved. I strongly believe that there is no sabotage there.)
Gamboa was in San Pedro to visit the impounding site of the local Highway Patrol Group and was on his way to a command visit at Camp Vicente Lim in Calamba, Laguna when the mishap happened.
The helicopter reportedly tried to take off at a dusty portion of the area, which affected visibility.
The PNP chief suffered a minor injury on his right shoulder. However, two generals, Maj. Gen. Mariel Magaway, PNP Director for Intelligence; and Maj. Gen. Jose Maria Ramos, Director for Comptrollership are currently in the intensive care unit of Unihealth Southwoods Hospital and Medical Center in Laguna.
READ: 2 generals in helicopter crash ‘unconscious,’ in ‘critical’ condition
Gamboa said he will not push through with his visit to Police Regional Office Region I as he was told to rest; however, he said he would go through with the scheduled command visit next week.
The PNP has formed a special investigation task force (SITG) to probe the incident, which is led by PNP Deputy Director for Operations Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar
Eleazar earlier said the special investigation task group (SITG) formed to probe the incident is looking at whether or not there was a lapse in the standard operating procedures being observed by PNP pilots in using the agency’s aircraft.
READ: PNP chopper that crashed in Laguna has no blackbox