PHL attaché: Still no instruction on C-130 flight to Japan

Philippine officials in Japan are still waiting for word on when the C-130 plane flight carrying Philippine search-and-rescue teams formed to aid quake- and tsunami-devastated Japan will push through. Military attaché Col. Chito Silbol on Friday said he is still waiting for a cue from Manila on when to coordinate with Japanese authorities to facilitate the Philippine team’s entry to Japan. “Nasabihan lang ako I might facilitate their entry here. Wala pa namang sinasabi sa akin anong nangyari (I was earlier told that I might facilitate the team’s entry in Japan. But so far I have not been advised on when the flight will be)," Silbol said in an interview on dzRH radio. The Philippine government has yet to receive the go-signal from Japan on when to send the search-and-rescue (SAR) teams there. Silbol is part of Philippine teams sent to bring Filipinos from areas hit hard by the March 11 quake and tsunami, and threatened by radiation from a quake-crippled nuclear power reactor. Philippine teams in Japan had brought out 43 Filipinos from hard-hit areas to Tokyo earlier this week. On Thursday, they brought another 58 to Tokyo, he added. Also, Silbol said those who want to go home but who lost their passports will be given one-way travel documents to the Philippines if they want to. Meanwhile, Silbol said the evacuated Filipinos are showing a spirit of bayanihan at the shelters they were brought to. "That is what is nice about us Filipinos, we take care of each other. Even Filipino communities and Filipino-Americans in US bases in Japan pooled their resources to help the people in temporary shelters," he said. Last Thrusday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said the Philippine government formed two SAR teams of 40-people each, adding that it planned to use a C-130 plane to take the two groups to Japan. He said the SAR teams were ready to go any time after a go-signal from the Japanese government. Also, he said the C-130 will bring Filipinos wanting to go home to the Philippines on the cargo plane's return flight. — LBG/RSJ, GMA News