Philippine top minister feared dead in crash

President joins mass search for interior secretary Jesse Robredo, one of three people missing after plane crash at sea.

Philippines interior secretary Jesse Robredo was among the four people on the plane that crashed [Reuters]

Helicopters and divers were searching for one of the most powerful Philippine ministers who was missing and feared dead after a light aircraft he was travelling in crashed into the sea.
President Benigno Aquino took the lead on Sunday in the search for Jesse Robredo, the country's interior secretary, a day after his plane went down near the central island of Masbate.
Aquino flew to Masbate where military divers and helicopters located the crash site and a survivor by Saturday evening, Al Jazeera's Marga Ortigas reported. Debris from the Piper Seneca four-seater plane were found about 500m from the shore. The plane was supposed to make an emergency landing at Masbate airport after the pilot radioed in to say he was experiencing engine problems.
Four people were on the private plane. Robredo's aide, Jun Abrazado, was the only rescued survivor and Aquino said he was conscious and had sustained only a few injuries.
"The survivors said the plane broke into pieces as it touched water," Ortigas said.
The United States has contributed two ships at crash site and a diving team to help with the search.
Mar Roxas, the transport secretary, who accompanied Aquino, said special sonar equipment had also been flown to Masbate to help in the search operation.
"We just want to do everything we can to save him [Robredo]," Roxas said in a message on Twitter.
The government also called a prayer vigil at a Roman Catholic chapel in Manila for the 54-year-old cabinet member, a father of three daughters and a former city mayor.
He is considered to be one of the most influential Philippine politicians and a close presidential aide.
Corruption fighter
As interior secretary, Robredo was in control of the country's 143,000-strong national police force which has long been dogged by accusations of corruption and abuse.
In recent months, he had ordered investigations into alleged financial irregularities over the construction of police stations and purchase of helicopters and rescue boats.
Robredo was also playing a key role in the dismantling of private armies allegedly deployed by some powerful provincial governors and city mayors ahead of congressional and local elections in 2013.
A former official at an ice cream company, Robredo was elected mayor of Naga City in the strife-torn Bicol region, south of Manila in 1988 at the age of 29, making him the youngest mayor in the country at the time.
His success in turning the once-sleepy city into a trading, housing and education centre won him many honours including a 2000 Ramon Magsaysay award, considered Asia's version of the Nobel Prize.
After serving nine years as a city mayor, he joined Aquino's successful campaign for the presidency in 2010, endorsing his reformist platform. Robredo was subsequently appointed to the cabinet.