PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said “all the men and women of the grieve with our brothers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for the untimely death of some of its personnel on board a C-130 cargo plane that crashed in Patikul, Sulu before noon today.”
In a statement, Gen. Eleazar said that he has already instructed the Regional Director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR), to coordinate with the AFP in extending all the necessary assistance that includes search and rescue and in attending to the medical needs of those who survived the plane crash.
“I also directed the RD, PRO-BAR, to check if there are civilian casualties or affected local residents and extend the same assistance to them,” Gen. Eleazar noted.
He said that not only friendship but brotherhood was established between police and military personnel “in the performance of our sworn duty of achieving our common goal of lasting peace and development in Sulu and other conflict-torn areas of Mindanao.”
“We are saddened by this unfortunate incident and we offer our deepest condolences to the family of our deceased soldiers,” he added.
He said he is also coordinating with his “mistah,” AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, for any other immediate assistance that the PNP could provide.