AFP stops search for missing jetliner

In this photo taken Tuesday, March 11, 2014, Philippine Air Force C-130 crew members continue their search and rescue mission over the South China Sea more than four days after a Malaysia Airlines jetliner went missing en route to Beijing. The Armed Forces of the Philippines has called off its search for the missing jetliner after military aircraft and ships failed to find any signs of the vanished Boeing 777 in local waters. AP PHOTO/PHILIPPINE AIR FORCE WESTERN COMMAND

MANILA, Philippines—The Armed Forces of the Philippines has called off its search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner after military aircraft and ships failed to find any signs of the vanished Boeing 777 in local waters.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said Navy ships and Air Force planes had scoured the entire West Philippine Sea since news of the mysterious disappearance of the Malaysian jetliner broke out on March 8.

“If we detect any clue [then we may proceed again]. As of now, we have checked the whole area,” Gazmin told reporters over the phone.

“Our C130 military plane has flown over the area for a wider coverage (of the search), but they did not find anything,” he said.

Gazmin said the military conducted its own search after its Malaysian counterpart asked for assistance in looking for the jetliner, which disappeared from civilian radars less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur on a flight to Beijing with 239 people on board in the wee hours of March 8.

Two Philippine military planes and three ships joined the international effort to find the Boeing 777-200ER, which was last heard from near the southern coast of Vietnam.

The military also sought the assistance of Filipino fishermen in the Kalayaan group of islands in looking for the Malaysian jetliner.

Lt. Gen. Roy Deveraturda, AFP Western Command chief, said an Air Force Fokker F27, a C130 and a Navy Islander led the aerial search while the Navy’s BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-15), BRP Emilio Jacinto (PF-35) and BRP Apolinario Mabini (PF-36) scoured the waters off Palawan province.

On Saturday, the international search for the jetliner in the South China Sea was called off after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that the plane appeared to have been diverted to the west and flown on a route that might have taken it anywhere in Central Asia or in the vast southern Indian Ocean.

Malaysian authorities, however, have not declared the disappearance of Flight MH370 a hijacking.

Twenty-six countries are helping Malaysia find the missing plane.