Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Friday expressed its “deepest sympathies” with the families of the passengers, particularly of the the three Filipinos, of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 that was shot down by still unidentified attackers as it flew over strife-torn Ukraine on Thursday.
“The Philippines joins the entire global community in expressing its deepest sympathies to the families of the 298 passengers on board,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. said in a statement.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) confirmed that of the 298 passengers who died in the attack, three were Filipinos.
Coloma, however, said that government has yet to verify the identities of the Filipinos.
He said the DFA would coordinate with the authorities in Ukraine and Malaysia to speed up the identification of Filipino victims.
“The Government is one with the international community in calling for a thorough and swift inquiry on this incident,” Coloma added.
Meanwhile, Deputy Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte extended the Palace’s condolences to the families of the victims.
“We offer our sincerest condolences to the families of all the victims, recognizing full well the enormity of their loss,” Valte said in a separate statement.
“At this difficult time, we stand with them in solidarity as one people and one country,” she said.
Valte added that Philippine embassies in Malaysia and Netherlands “were coordinating with Malaysia Airlines and other authorities, in order to secure more information regarding the tragedy to assist the affected families.”
MH17 went down over Eastern Ukraine while on a flight from Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 283 passengers, mostly Dutch nationals, and 15 crew members died in the suspected terrorist attack.
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