Nestor Mata

Nestor Mata

Nestor Mata (born 1926)[1] is a Filipino journalist whose writing career has spanned six decades. He is perhaps best known as the lone survivor of the 1957 plane crash that killed the President of the Philippines Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others.[2]

Contents

Biography

Mata was a reporter with the Philippine Herald newspaper. He covered the Korean War as a war correspondent. In 1953, he was assigned by his newspaper to cover the newly-elected President Magsaysay.[1]

Beginning in the 1980s, Mata penned a regular newspaper column for the Manila Standard. As of 2008, he writes for the Malaya.

Plane crash survivor

On March 16, 1957, President Magsaysay, accompanied by several government officials and journalists, flew to Cebu for a speaking engagement. Later that evening, the presidential party took off for the return flight to Manila. Their plane crashed in Mount Manung-gal in Cebu at around 1:16 a.m, March 17, 1957.

Mata had been seated near the presidential compartment[2] and was half-asleep at the time of the crash.[3] He was initially rendered unconscious after the crash, and came to a few hours later. Mata later recounted:

I found myself on the side of a steep cliff among dried bushes…. Agonizing with pain, I was completely at a loss what to do. About three meters away from me were parts of the plane. They were still burning. Meanwhile, I heard the distant howling of a dog. It was only then that I felt hopeful of being rescued. Thinking that there were probably people living not far away from where I lay moaning with pain, I made an effort to shout. I noticed that my voice echoed in the nearby mountains. After that, I began shouting, ‘Mr. President! Mr. President! Mr. President!’ When no answer came, I shouted for Pablo Bautista, the reporter of the Liwayway magazine. ‘Pabling! Pabling!’ Still no answer. It began to dawn on me that there was no other survivor except me.[2]

Mata was rescued by Marcelino Nuya and several other farmers residing near the crash site.[4] He suffered second and third degree burns all over his body[2] and would be hospitalized for the next six months.[3] It took eighteen hours to transport the injured Mata down the mountain.[2] Upon his arrival at a Cebu City hospital, Mata was able to dictate through a nurse a press dispatch to his newspaper. It began with the sentence "President Magsaysay is dead."[2]

Together with Vicente Villafranca, Mata penned One Came Back (1957), a memoir detailing the last moments of President Magsaysay and his own ordeal after surviving the plane crash.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Florentino B. Valeros; Estrellita V. Gruenberg (1999). Filipino Writers in English. Quezon City: New Day Publishers. p. 151. ISBN 971-10-0286-8. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f Leon O. Ty (1957-04-06). "Nestor Mata's story". Philippine Free Press. http://philippinesfreepress.wordpress.com/2006/03/15/nestor-matas-story-april-6-1957. Retrieved 2008-03-21. 
  3. ^ a b Julie Yap-Daza (2004-09-04). "The one real born-again". Manila Standard Today. http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=jullieYapDaza_sept03_2004. Retrieved 2008-03-21. 
  4. ^ Miguel Bernad, S.J.. "Tragic Mountain: Manung-gal". Mountain Essays of Miguel Bernad. Archived from the original on 2009-08-05. http://web.archive.org/web/20090805162618/http://geocities.com/Yosemite/3712/bernadc.html. Retrieved 2008-03-21. 

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Néstor Mata — (born 1926) is a Filipino journalist whose writing career has spanned six decades. He is perhaps best known as the lone survivor of the 1957 plane crash that killed the President of the Philippines Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others.cite news… …   Wikipedia

  • Mata (surname) — Mata, sometimes Matta, is a Portuguese and Spanish surname. It may refer to: Eduardo Mata (1942 1995), Mexican conductor and composer Francisco Mata (1932 2011), Venezuelan singer and composer Juan Manuel Mata (b. 1988), Spanish footballer… …   Wikipedia

  • Jordi Mata — Jordi Mata. Jordi Mata i Viadiu (Barcelona, 1966) es licenciado en Historia y escritor español. Ha sido uno de los autores más jóvenes en adjudicarse el premio Sant Jordi de novela, a la edad de 30 años. Preferentemente se ha dedicado a dicho… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Lídice da Mata — Foto: Waldemir Barreto/Agencia Senado Senadora por  Bahia …   Wikipedia Español

  • Premio Néstor Luján de novela histórica — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda El premio Néstor Luján de novela histórica és un premio literario en lengua catalana convocado per la editorial Columna en recuerdo del periodista y escritor Néstor Luján. Historia Se creó en 1997, dos años después… …   Wikipedia Español

  • 1957 Cebu Douglas C-47 crash — Infobox Airliner accident|name=Mt. Pinatubo, Douglas C 47 aircraft Crash Date=March 17 1957 Type=Metal fatigue Site=22 miles NW of Cebu City, Philippines Fatalities=25 Injuries=1 Aircraft Type=C 47 Skytrain Origin=Lahug Airport, Cebu City… …   Wikipedia

  • Ramon Magsaysay — Magsaysay redirects here. For other uses, see Magsaysay (disambiguation). Ramón Magsaysay 7th President of the Philippines 3rd President of the Third Republic In o …   Wikipedia

  • List of sole survivors of aviation accidents or incidents — * I.M.Chisov, 1942 * Huang Yu, (Miss Macao), 1948 * Erick Rios Bridaux (Eastern Airlines Flight 537), (Who was not in Eastern Airlines flight; he was the pilot of Lockheed plane, which was operated by Bolivian Air Force) 1949 * Isaac Allal (Hurum …   Wikipedia

  • Ramon Magsaysay — Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay (* 31. August 1907 in Iba; † 17. März 1957) war der dritte Präsident der Philippinen nach der Unabhängigkeit von 1946 und regierte vom 30. Dezember 1953 bis zu seinem Tod bei einem Flugzeugabsturz am 17. März 1957. Nach …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Mont Pinatubo — Pinatubo Pinatubo Panache volcanique s élevant au dessus du Pinatubo lors de son éruption de 1991. Géographie Altitude …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”