Marcos flight gets glitch en route to Mindanao

AGRI PROJECT President Marcos, also secretary of the Department of Agriculture, meets with local and agriculture officials in South Cotabato as he leads the launch of the province’s rice production modernization program in Banga town on Wednesday. —MALACAÑANG PHOTO

The plane carrying President Marcos returned to Villamor Air Base after it experienced a technical problem on Wednesday morning, according to Presidential Communications Secretary Cheloy Velicaria Garafil.

In a Viber message to reporters, Garafil said the President had to use a different aircraft to fly to South Cotabato to grace the launching of the province’s consolidated rice production and mechanization and “Kadiwa Ng Pangulo.” “The President is OK,” the Palace official said.

In a statement, Col. Ma. Consuelo Castillo, the Philippine Air Force spokesperson, said the Gulfstream G280 jet that flew the President on Wednesday morning “had to return to base a few minutes after takeoff due to a minor technical issue on the aircraft’s flaps operations.”

“It is nothing serious, but since the PAF maintains the highest standards of flight safety, the pilots decided to do a precautionary return to base and have the aircraft thoroughly checked,” Castillo said.

“There was a ready backup aircraft, which is a C295, and so the presidential movement was resumed immediately,” she added.

Speaking to farmers present at the launch of the province’s rice production and mechanization program, the President apologized for the delay in his arrival.

“I apologize for keeping you waiting for hours. It looks like you are already hungry,” the President said.

The first event was supposed to start at 9 a.m. but it started shortly before noon.

After his events in South Cotabato, Mr. Marcos flew to Albay to check on the situation of the evacuees and held a situation briefing as the Mayon Volcano has remained under alert level 3.