Saturday, December 23, 2006 Multicab crashes into truck; court clerk dies; 7 injured By Mia E. Abellana Sun.Star Staff Reporter
CHRISTMAS will be bleak for the family of the chief clerk of court of the Naga Municipal Circuit Trial Court, who died when his multicab crashed into a truck full of vegetables yesterday morning.
Teodosio Rison Jr. was on his way to work when his vehicle collided with the truck driven by Virgilio Nepomuceno.
Seven other passengers from the southern town of Dalaguete, who were on the back of the truck, were also injured and are currently at the South General Hospital in Naga.
The truck came all the way from Mantalongon, Dalaguete. It was on its way to Carbon market in Cebu City to deliver vegetables.
When the truck reached Barangay Colon at 9:05 a.m., it tried to avoid the oncoming multicab that left Tuyan, Naga.
When Nepomuceno stepped on the brakes, the truck flipped on its side, spilling the vegetables in the process.
The truck also pinned down the multicab, with Rison inside it.
Bystanders rushed him to the South General Hospital but he was declared dead on arrival.
When the sacks of vegetables came tumbling down, so did the truck’s passengers.
Of the injured passengers, Maria Calvo, 43; Policarpa Batoctoy, 38; Antonio Habagat; Tranquilina Moran, 42; and Hishin Rosario, 66, are from Mantalongon. Diosdada Bornea, 43, is from Ablayan while Ace Vergel Laksi, 23, is from Poblacion.
SPO1 Miguel Castañares said their injuries are minor.
Traffic was heavy along the highway yesterday morning, as the crashed vehicles occupied most of the road.
Overloaded
Castañares said most trucks from Dalaguete are always overloaded.
He admitted that while police and agents from the Land Transportation Office stop the trucks for violations, the practice continues.
“Mas dako tingali ilang halin kaysa sa multa (The money they earn from their cargo probably outstrips the fine),” he said.
He said they will look into the driver’s liability for allowing his passengers to overload the truck.
Police said that if the truck was not overloaded, it would have been able to balance and it wouldn’t have flipped.
However, Nepomuceno, who is detained at the Naga Police Station, said it was Rison’s multicab that encroached on his lane and he had to swerve to avoid hitting it.
According to residents, that portion of Barangay Colon is accident-prone.
