Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), revealed that 19 military personnel who died in the tragic C-130 plane crash in Patikul, Sulu over the weekend have already been identified.
Sobejana released the names of the identified fatalities on Wednesday afternoon, July 7, three days after the crash of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport plane (tail number 5125) of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) in Barangay Bangkal.
Among the victims were three PAF pilots and five aircrew of the ill-fated airplane.
They were identified as Major Emmanuel Makalintal, pilot-in-command; Major Michael Vincent Benolerao and First Lieutenant Joseph Hintay, co-pilots; Technical Sgt. Mark Anthony Agana, Technical Sgt. Donald Badoy, Staff Sgt. Jan Neil Macapaz, Staff Sgt. Michael Bulalaque, and Sgt. Jack Navarro, all were crew members.
There was one casualty each from the AFP Medical Corps and Nurse Corps identified as Captain Higello Emeterio and First Lt. Sheena Alexandria Tato.
Meanwhile, nine were Philippine Army personnel: Sgt. Butch Maestro, Private First Class Christopher Rollon, Private First Class Felixzalday Provido, Privates Raymar Carmona, Vic Monera, Mark Nash Lumanta, Jomar Gabas, Marcelino Alquisar, and Mel Mark Angana.
Sobejana also clarified that the official death toll stood at 52, not 53 as earlier reported by the military, as there had been a "double counting" of the names of the fatalities. Of those who died, 49 were military personnel and three were civilians.
"This is a very hard task since the cadavers were beyond recognition but we have experts supporting our efforts. We are doing our best to expedite the identification and the ongoing investigation without compromising its credibility," he said.
The military chief said that the remains of the 11 identified victims -- Cpt. Emeterio, Sgt. Maestro, T/Sgt. Agana, PFC Rollon, PFC Provido, Pvt. Gabas, Pvt. Alquisar, Pvt. Lumanta, Pvt. Angana, Pvt. Carmona, and Pvt. Monera -- were already transported to their respective hometowns.
Further, the remains of 1Lt. Tato were being readied for transportation via a C-295 aircraft to her hometown nwhile seven of the identified cadavers are being prepared for air and land transport.
Sobejana said 30 more cadavers are still in Zamboanga City and yet to be identified.
"Our people can be assured of the AFP’s transparency however the investigation process takes time. All factors are being considered in our deliberate efforts to ensure the accuracy of the findings," he said.