Duterte directed the Department of National Defense to convert the presidential plane into an air ambulance.
President Rodrigo Duterte will give up the presidential plane and wants it to be converted into an air ambulance and be turned over to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for use of the military members.
Duterte announced this Monday (August 8) during a speech before members of the Philippine Army’s Stormtroopers Division in Camp General Vicente Lukban, Catbalogan, Samar. He said he has already requested Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to make the necessary arrangements for converting the presidential plane into a mobile emergency healthcare facilities for soldiers.
The president said he is more comfortable taking commercial flights when going around the country. He added there are at least two Fokker planes available that his future successors can use for their official travels.
The presidential plane Duterte must have been referring to is Kalayaan One, a Fokker F28-3000 jet. Duterte said the plane may be of better use as a mobile hospital for soldiers injured in combat.
“So you will have about so many planes for the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Total, ako komportable na ako sa PAL (Philippine Airlines) at Cebu Pacific…Okay na siguro eroplano niyan. I’ll just ride commercial flights. Sometimes I use jet, small ones. Kung may gasoline, I’ll just pay ‘yung gasoline pati operational cost,” he said.
(Anyway, I’m comfortable with PAL and Cebu Pacific…Their airplanes are probably okay. I’ll just ride commercial flights. Sometimes I use jets, small ones. If there is gasoline needed, I’ll just pay for the expenses, as well as the operational cost.)
Cebu Pacific, owned by billionaire John Gokongwei, suffered one of the worst airliine accidents in the world when it’s Flight 387 crashed on the slopes of Mount Sumagaya in Misamis Oriental in February 1998 which killed all 104 people on board.
Duterte is known to have taken a PAL flight from Manila to Davao City at least once. More often, he uses private jet planes.
He once told reporters during a dinner that he uses a Jet Stream plane and pays for the operational costs and fuel.
He previously said he wanted the same fate for presidential yacht BRP Ang Pangulo. If the boat attracts no buyers, the President said he wanted it to become a hospital ship to be sent to soldiers fighting in conflict areas.