Duterte to visit injured soldiers who survived Sulu plane crash

President Rodrigo Duterte would be visiting the soldiers who were injured in the C-130 plane crash in Sulu's Patikul town, Malacañang said Monday.

“If it will push through, the President might go to Zamboanga, in the hospital,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said.

As of Monday, the death toll from the crash was at 50. Of these fatalities, 47 were soldiers while the remaining three were civilians.

Roque said the President was deeply saddened by the plane crash.

“Matinding kalungkutan po... dahil napaktaaas na ng numero ng mga nasawi,” Roque pointed out.

(The President is grieving over this, given the rising death toll.)

Roque, however, said that the incident made the government more determined to continue modernizing the country’s Armed Forces.

“This will provide impetus for further modernization rather than preventing it,” Roque said.

“We will ensure that we will proceed at full speed ahead in modernizing our Armed Forces because we need them in defending our territorial sovereignty,” he added. — DVM, GMA News