PNP chief Gamboa assures he is ‘okay’ after helicopter crash

PHOTO from Ronald Dela Rosa’s Facebook

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Archie Gamboa assured that he is “okay” after the helicopter he was riding, along with seven others including three police generals, crashed in San Pedro, Laguna on Thursday morning.

The video, released by the PNP Public Information Office Thursday night, showed Gamboa lying in a hospital bed at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City, with his right arm visibly bandaged.

“Sa ating mga kababayan at lalo na sa ating mga kapulisan, ako ay lumabas ngayon dito para ipakita sa inyo na okay ako. Hindi naman ako nasaktan [To our fellow countrymen, especially to police officers, I decided to show up in this video to show you that I am okay. I was not hurt]. As a matter of fact, I am going to office on Monday,” he said in the video.

He also mentioned the purpose of this visit to Barangay San Antonio in San Pedro, Laguna, where he visited the impounding site of the local Highway Patrol Group.

“Kasama talaga ‘yun sa aking byahe papuntang [That’s part of my trip to] Calabarzon, again to give warning to everyone that no matter what, the PNP would always enforce the law no matter what it takes,” he said.

The Bell 429 chopper carrying Gamboa and his companions crashed minutes after take off in San Pedro to transport the PNP chief for a command visit at Camp Vicente Lim in Calamba.

The helicopter, however, tried to take off at a dusty portion of the ground, causing the pilots to not notice a utility cable that caught the aircraft causing the crash.

Aside from Gamboa, other passengers of the helicopter are Maj. Gen. Mariel Magaway, PNP Director for Intelligence; Maj. Gen. Jose Maria Ramos, Director for Comptrollership; Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac, PNP spokesperson; pilot Lt. Col. Ruel Zalatar; co-pilot Lt. Col. Rico Macawili; Senior Master Sergeant Louie Estona, helicopter crew; and Capt. Keventh Gayramara, Gamboa’s aide-de-camp.

All of them are now in stable condition, except Ramos and Magaway who remain unconscious and in critical condition at the Unihealth Southwoods Hospital and Medical Center in Laguna and Asian Medical Center in Las Piñas City, respectively.

Edited by JPV