MPD warns public vs 'accident-prone' Finance Road

MANILA, Philippines - The Manila Police District (MPD) advised motorists and pedestrians to be particularly careful when passing through Finance Road in Ermita, Manila following a multiple collision last Friday that resulted in injuries to three motorcyclists, including a STAR employee.

“Finance Road is a busy route for big delivery trucks coming to and from the pier area. It can be considered an accident-prone area especially for small vehicles and motorcycles. And unless motorists take extra precaution in passing through the area, accidents are bound to happen,” said Manila’s traffic chief Superintendent Rizaldy Yap.

On Friday afternoon, three motorcyclists were injured when a delivery van reportedly lost its brakes and crushed the victims’ motorcycles.

Yap identified the victims as STAR cartoonist Eugene Bacasmas; Antonio Santos; and Manila Traffic and Parking Bureau employee Erwin Bautista. The three were initially rushed to the Ospital ng Maynila, though Bacasmas was later transferred to the Manila Doctors’ Hospital for more X-ray tests and CT scans. 

Senior Police Officer 3 Omer Mabborang said that prior to the incident, two trucks figured in a collision at the corner of Finance Road and Taft Avenue.

Bautista conducted the investigation of the two trucks, which were parked near the entrance of National Museum. It was at this juncture that an Isuzu aluminum delivery van (RCG-984) coming from Padre Burgos allegedly lost its brakes, prompting driver Wilmar Panogaling to veer the truck and hit Bacasmas and Santos, who were on their motorcycles. The wayward van continued its momentum and hit Bautista, who was examining the two trucks that figured in the earlier collision. The van came to a stop after hitting one of the vehicles involved in an earlier collision.

Bacasmas jumped before the van hit his motorcycle. At his hospital bed, Bacasmas said he was informed by his brothers that the vehicle that hit his motorcycle also figured in a collision in the past for lost brakes. “Definitely the vehicle is being poorly maintained. The owner should do something or more serious accidents involving his vehicle might occur in the future,” he said.

Mabborang told The STAR that the company that owns the van, Liwayway Marketing Corp., pledged to shoulder all the hospital expenses of the victims, including the repair or replacement of their motorcycles.