MANILA - Journalist Nestor Mata has passed away on Thursday.

He was 92.

Mata was the sole survivor of the 1957 plane crash in Cebu that killed President Ramon Magsaysay.

Mata began his six-decade career in journalism as a reporter for the Philippines Herald, serving as a war correspondent during the Korean War.

He was then assigned to cover the newly-elected Magsaysay in 1953.

In his memoir "One Came Back," co-written with Vicente Villafranca, Mata narrated how the C-47 Army plane "Mt. Pinatubo," crashed at Mount Manunggal, Cebu on March 17, 1957. The incident left 26 people dead, including Magsaysay.

The plane crash survivor wrote for the Philippines Herald until it closed down after President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in 1972.

He then wrote columns for The Daily Express until Marcos was ousted in 1986.

Mata served as a columnist for the Manila Standard and co-executive editor of Lifestyle Asia from 1986 to 1999, and also as a columnist for Malaya from 1996 until his death.