ZARRAGA, ILOILO, Philippines – A public utility jeepney conductor and a passenger died in a road accident yesterday morning at Brgy. Singagao of this town.
The victims were identified as Gerardo Trespesa Jr., 41, the PUJ passenger from Tubungan, Iloilo and PUJ conductor Bobby Sion, 20, of Barotac Nuevo town.
Seven other passengers were injured and are now treated at West Visayas State University Medical Center in Jaro, Iloilo City.
Witnesses claimed that the PUJ, plying the route Barotac Nuevo-Iloilo City and vice versa, accelerated its speed as it tried to overtake another passenger jeepney.
The driver, 29-year-old Kenneth Garcia of Pototan town, then applied the brakes but the vehicle swerved. He lost control of the PUJ, which then zigzagged in front of a school before crashing into a tree and a culvert where it turned turtle.
The sudden but wayward maneuvering of the vehicle threw Trespesa and Sion out of the vehicle.
Due to the impact, Trespesa died instantly from severe injuries on his head and other parts of the body. Sion, on the other hand, was brought to the hospital but died shortly later. Most of the injured passengers sustained broken bones.
Garcia is now detained at the lock-up cell of the Zarraga Police Station for proper disposition of his case. - THE FREEMAN