MANILA,
Philippines – The body of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo has been brought
back to his hometown Naga City Tuesday, a few hours after technical divers
found and recovered his body in the waters off Masbate.
President
Benigno Aquino III personally saw the return of Robredo, considered to be one
of the most powerful of his cabinet officials, to his wife Leni and daughters
Aika, Patricia and Jillian. He was accompanied by other members of the cabinet:
Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Transportation and Communications Secretary
Manuel “Mar” Roxas, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Presidential
Communications Secretary Ricky Carandang.
Robredo’s
body has been placed in a metal coffin and television reports said that it will
be brought to the Archbishop’s Palace where a public viewing is expected to
start at 5 p.m.
It was
one of the foreign technical divers who spotted the overturned Piper Seneca
plane’s fuselage during his dive Tuesday morning, said Roxas who became
emotional as he recounted how the body of Robredo was recovered.
He said
that the fuselage was found overturned 800 meters from the shore at a depth of
180 feet.
Roxas
was quick to clarify earlier that the DILG chief’s body was retrieved first
because he was the easiest to reach as the pilots–Captain Jessup Bahinting and
Nepalese flight student Kshitiz Chand– had been inside the cockpit. He said
that divers had to be careful in their retrieval operations as there was a
possibility of the fuselage being swept to deeper areas.
The
discovery of the bodies ended a difficult three-day search that started when
their Piper Seneca plane crashed into the waters off Masbate Saturday
afternoon.
Robredo’s bodyguard, Chief
Insp. Jun Abrasado, made a dramatic escape from the doomed plane and was
rescued by fishermen.
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