EDITORIAL - Homicide through DUI

The country passed the Anti-Drunk and Drugged Driving Act back in May 2013. Republic Act 10586 imposes penalties ranging from three months for minor offenses and up to 20 years if there is homicide, as well as fines ranging from P20,000 to P500,000 on persons found driving under the influence of alcohol, dangerous drugs and other similar substances.

The government has procured breath analyzers for police and other traffic enforcers, but the supply remains limited. In the absence of the devices on site, drunkenness is determined by looking at a driver’s eyes, by making the driver walk and turn or stand on one leg.

Few motorists, however, are pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving, unless the vehicle is deemed to be moving or swerving at reckless speed. These days, police manning checkpoints at night look for guns and ask for motorists’ COVID vaccination cards.

Early last Friday, no one pulled over a car traveling southbound along EDSA, whose passengers had just come from a drinking spree in Quezon City. Near the P. Tuazon tunnel, the car crashed into concrete barriers before 2 a.m. As other motorists stopped to help the driver out, the car burst into flames and quickly engulfed the other passengers.

Airmen First Class Aaron Cabarle, 25; Mark Angelo Sabado, 27, and Kyle Justine Velasco, 25, did not survive. Police said the driver, Airman Second Class Manuel Ognes Jr., 27, who was treated in a hospital, would face charges for multiple homicide through reckless imprudence as well as drunk driving.

The four were driving back to Villamor Airbase in Pasay City after celebrating their fifth year in the Philippine Air Force when the accident occurred. Accidents happen, but there are ways of minimizing their occurrence. Not driving while drunk or high on drugs is one way. And for those who defy the law, there should be improved enforcement, especially in the dead of night, of the Anti-Drunk Driving Act. As Friday’s tragedy has shown, drunk drivers endanger not only themselves but also others.