Hopes dim for
Robredo rescue

No less than President Benigno Aquino III and DOTC Secretary Mar Roxas flew to Masbate yesterday morning to oversee the search for DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo and the two pilots of their ill-fated plane that crashed Saturday.

But despite the number of rescue teams deployed to the area, hopes dimmed that the rescuers would be able to find Robredo and his two companions still alive.

Several hours had already lapsed since his light plane crashed some three kilometers off the Masbate Airport at 4:30 p.m. yesterday. That was when the pilot alerted the Masbate air traffic controllers that the engine trouble of their light aircraft would force him to crash land off Masbate airport.

Police Senior Inspector Jun Abrazado, survived the crash. He was recovered by fishermen with a fracture in his arm.

But there were rumors earlier that some fishermen had picked up Robredo. But that remained unverified after several hours. It is very unlikely because the sight of a trove of rescuers trying to comb the crash site and for the survivors could not have escaped the notice of fishermen had they picked up Robredo.

So, it seems that the only thing to do now is to find the body of Roberdo and his two companions.

That fact that P-Noy and Sec. Roxas had rushed to the area point to the possibilities that both may have given up hopes for Robredo's survival of the light plane crash.

But then, who knows? A lot of miracles had happened after what most had thought as a fruitless search for survivors. So, until something develops, we can only appeal for people to pray for Robredo and his two other missing companions.

***

While they are still debating on the medical prognosis of former President Gloria Arroyo, I guess the claims and counterclaims are better left to the experts of the medical profession.

But I agree that a cardiologist should not assert that local neurosurgeons cannot handle the needed surgical operation on the former President.

Her personal physician held up the possibility that Mrs. Arroyo could die suddenly because the slippage of her titanium shunt.

I was taken by surprise by the detailed presentation by Dr. Roberto Anastacio, a cardiologist of the Makati Medical Center. He said there was a serious threat to her life and the corrective surgery needed can be done only in New York.

That statement of Dr. Anastacio was immediately disowned by the MMC.

What comes out with that debate is something that needs to be carefully watched. If something happens to GMA, then Dr. Anastacio is correct. But if nothing happens to her, then he must been speaking through his hat.

***

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima seems to have stumbled into something with a report of another New Bilibid Prison inmate missing. Not only Rolito Go, the most famous of the New Bilibid inmates whose absence several days ago led to claims that he had been kidnapped by four men, who had passed themselves off as NBI personnel.

Secretary de Lima is still trying to get to the bottom of that claim of Go and she is also looking into another case of a murder convict who also reportedly went missing.

Well, it is about time that the NBP mess should be solved. Otherwise, we may find ourselves rueing the day when prisoners find themselves freely going in and out of the NBP. In short, the New Bilibid Prison serves only as a sanctuary, giving criminal the excuse that they were inside the den, when they were just roaming around.*

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