Senator Risa Hontiveros on Thursday, July 8 urged the Senate to include the investigation into the C-130 plane crash that killed more than 50 persons—mostly soldiers—in its priority legislative agenda when Congress resumes sessions on July 26.

Hontiveros said senators really have to get to the bottom of the incident considering that the plane was still in tip-top shape and had 11,000 flying hours remaining before its next scheduled maintenance.

“My colleagues are really aghast. This has already been described as the worst air disaster in recent Philippine military history,” Hontiveros said in an interview on CNN Philippines’ The Source.

Hontiveros said the Upper Chamber must tackle the incident in the context of the ongoing Armed Forces of the Philippine’s (AFP) modernization, saying it may be time for legislators to review the profile and budgeting within the whole AFP budget.

She also stressed the need to probe the incident in the context of the country’s external defense priority, including “turning back China’s repeated incursions in our territory, their exploitation of our natural resources, and their abuse and bullying of our own fisherfolk in their traditional fishing grounds, even within our own exclusive economic zones (EEZ).”

“This tragedy highlihts and brings together many urgent or important issues that we need to attend to, both in terms of honoring the memory of these people, including young people serving in the AFP who have lost their lives and in terms also of the other national interests of the Filipino people as a whole that are at stake and have been so dramatically and tragically highlighted again with this crash,” she said.

Hontiveros said she agrees with Senators Francis Pangilinan and Grace Poe’s call on the need to prevent such recurrences and measures to be put in place to make the country’s military planes safe.

She also said she agrees with Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa’s point about foreign debt that could happen as a result of the AFP’s modernization.

“He makes an interesting point about foreign debt that may occur as a result of that modernization. Well, there’s a lot there that bears further study or scrutiny,” she said.

“We need to improve the maintenance of this plane and continuous training of our troops...there are several angles in that we need to look into to prevent further recurrences,” she reiterated.

Senator Risa Hontiveros on Thursday urged the Senate to include the investigation into the C-130 plane crash that killed more than 50 persons—mostly soldiers—in its priority legislative agenda when Congress resumes sessions on July 26.

Hontiveros said senators really have to get to the bottom of the incident considering that the plane was still in tip-top shape and had 11,000 flying hours remaining before its next scheduled maintenance.

“My colleagues are really aghast. This has already been described as the worst air disaster in recent Philippine military history,” Hontiveros said in an interview on CNN Philippines’ The Source.

Hontiveros said the Upper Chamber must tackle the incident in the context of the ongoing Armed Forces of the Philippine’s (AFP) modernization program, saying legislators should again review the profile and budgeting of the AFP’s military equipment and procurement.

She also stressed the need to probe the incident in consideration of the country’s external defense priority, including “turning back China’s repeated incursions in our territory, their exploitation of our natural resources, and their abuse and bullying of our own fisherfolk in their traditional fishing grounds, even within our own exclusive economic zones (EEZ).”

“This tragedy highlihts and brings together many urgent or important issues that we need to attend to, both in terms of honoring the memory of these people, including young people serving in the AFP who have lost their lives and in terms also of the other national interests of the Filipino people as a whole that are at stake and have been so dramatically and tragically highlighted again with this crash,” she said.

Hontiveros said she agrees with Senators Francis Pangilinan and Grace Poe’s call on the need to prevent such recurrences and measures to be put in place to make the country’s military planes safe.

She also said she agrees with Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa’s point about foreign debt that could happen as a result of the AFP’s modernization.

“He makes an interesting point about foreign debt that may occur as a result of that modernization. Well, there’s a lot there that bears further study or scrutiny,” she said.

“We need to improve the maintenance of this plane and continuous training of our troops...there are several angles in that we need to look into to prevent further recurrences,” she reiterated.