In 1998, what was supposed to be a routine domestic flight suddenly spiraled into one of the Philippines’ most tragic aviation disasters. Cebu Pacific Flight 387, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, crashed into the slopes of Mount Sumagaya on February 2, killing everyone on board. Official records cite 104 lives lost, but in the years that followed, rumors inflated the number to 108 and twisted the story into something darker than anyone imagined. Was it merely an accident, or was it something far more sinister?

Flight 387 had departed Manila bound for Cagayan de Oro with a stopover in Tacloban. Everything seemed normal until the descent. The pilots were relying on visual flying conditions, but a blanket of sudden fog covered Mount Sumagaya. Believing they had safe clearance, the aircraft continued its descent until it slammed into the mountain. There were no survivors. For days, the wreckage was scattered across the jungle slopes, a haunting reminder of lives cut short in an instant.

What shocked investigators later was the discovery that outdated aviation charts listed Mount Sumagaya’s elevation at 5,000 feet when in reality it rose to nearly 6,000 feet. This error may have deceived the pilots into believing they had enough altitude to clear the mountain. Critics also raised questions about the pilots’ training and the airline’s safety protocols. Was this a tragic mistake, a case of negligence, or a mix of both?

And then came the whispers. On internet forums and crime storytelling channels, the narrative shifted from accident to accusation. Some began to claim that the pilot himself was the true suspect behind the deaths of 108 people. The figure itself was inaccurate, but the idea caught fire. Was the crash an act of recklessness so extreme that it bordered on criminal? Was there something hidden by Cebu Pacific or the authorities that the public was never meant to know?

No concrete evidence has ever supported claims of deliberate wrongdoing. The official verdict points to controlled flight into terrain, the aviation term for flying an airworthy aircraft directly into the ground due to human error or misinformation. Yet even with the official explanation, the rumors have never fully disappeared. To this day, the tragedy is retold with dramatic twists that blur the line between fact and speculation.

For the families of the victims, Flight 387 remains a wound that never healed. For the public, it has become both a cautionary tale and a mystery. Could a pilot really be blamed for the deaths of more than a hundred people? Or was he simply another victim of a flawed system, outdated data, and cruel circumstances?

The legacy of Cebu Pacific Flight 387 is not just the memory of the 104 lives lost, but also the haunting suspicion that lingers decades later. Accident, negligence, or something far darker—the truth depends on who you choose to believe.