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Wednesday, October 16, 2002
Council probes illegal drag race activities
POLICE Director Villamor Bumanglag and Transportation Regional Director Alfredo Mondiguing are invited to appear before members of the City Council today to shed light on the recent tragic incident at the Loakan airport runway.
Aside from the two, the council has also asked Capt. Julius Ramos, deputy group commander of the Philippine Air Force's Tactical Operations Group, Eduardo Robles of the Air Transportation Office and a representative of the Airport Security Group to be present during the regular meeting at 2 o'clock this afternoon.
The move was made in line with a resolution jointly proposed by Councilors Galo Weygan and Elmo Nevada requesting for the immediate presence of the concerned personalities "to shed light on the death of teenagers engaging in the illegal drag race within the Loakan runway."
The BCPO, meanwhile, will be asked "to answer the reported drag races in the various thoroughfares in the city and draw preventive measures to address the problem once and for all."
"The untimely death of three teenagers - all students from the University of Baguio - who engaged in the conduct of an illegal drag race at the airport runway has once again alarmed city residents on the absence of safety measures, poor implementation of traffic and airport laws and lack of security in the area," the resolution stressed, noting that a similar incident happened sometime in May, 2002, causing the death of two teenagers.
"It can be deduced that these deaths can be attributed to the lack of control of the airport facilities or the non-implementation of applicable laws and negligence by the ATO and the DOTC," it added.
The councilors also disclosed that illegal drag racing activities not only occurred at the Loakan runway but even along major thoroughfares in the city like Harrison Road, South Drive, Session Road, Loakan Road, Marcos Highway and other areas during the wee hours "when police visibility is nil."
Earlier, Mayor Bernardo Vergara directed the police to immediately investigate the drag race tragedy at Loakan.
"This is a senseless tragedy. It is unthinkable how an illegal activity like drag racing is allowed to take place in a government facility like an airport runway." Cheryl G. Cruz |
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