Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro is looking into deploying drones instead of choppers for disaster assessment after the fatal crash of a Philippine Air Force (PAF) aircraft.
PAF spokesperson Maria Christina Basco said its Super Huey that crashed in Loreto town of Agusan del Sur on Tuesday was tasked to conduct damage assessment for Typhoon Tino.
Teodoro, who is also the chairperson of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) whose implementing arm is the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), admitted that the agency is still reliant on PAF’s assets to conduct such operations.
‘We are planning in the OCD, in the NDRRMC, to have a drone capability also for disaster assessment,’ Teodoro said in an ambush interview.
‘So that’s the prevention we are going to do,’ he added.