CEBU CITY -- Five persons, four of them children, were killed while three were wounded after a pick-up plowed through the side of a road where a family held a prayer vigil for the dead in Tuburan town Friday night.
Police in Tuburan launched a manhunt all night before the pick-up driver decided to surrender Saturday morning.
Anthony Sayson Cabin-toy, 26, appeared before the police station at 10:15 a.m., escorted by a barangay tanod who is an uncle of his wife.
Cabintoy was driving a yellow Nissan Frontier in Barangay Fortaliza at 7:30 p.m. when it suddenly lost its right rear wheel.
The pick-up hit a parked motorcycle, a parked tricycle and a group of people sitting on stools at the side of the road. It only stopped after it crashed into a tree.
Killed on the spot was Janine Recta Oros, 10. Seven other wounded were aided by people around. A passing Corominas bus stopped and offered to bring the wounded to the Tuburan District Hospital.
Three died on the way. They were identified as Janine Mag-aso Tahanlangit, 7, Jessica Encarguez Sayson, 14, and Levi Tapil, 34. A fourth victim, Richard Tapil, 5, died Saturday morning in a hospital in this city.
Doctors decided to transfer Tapil, Gina Tapil Antonio, 34, and Daisy Mae Encarguez Tapil, 12, to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in this city. James Lester Diola Gecain, 10, remained confined in the Tuburan District Hospital.
Chief Inspector Timmar Alam told Sun.Star Cebu Saturday that Cabintoy, his mother-in-law and a child about five years old also boarded the rescue bus, but angry relatives reportedly ganged up on him when they realized he was the one who drove the pick-up. Cabintoy jumped off the bus and then ran uphill.
Alam also said they went to Cabintoy’s house in Barangay Carmelo but he did not return home. They proceeded to Barangay 6 where he has an uncle, but he also did not go there. They then went to Sitio Kapangihan, Barangay Colonia, where his mother, Alice Cowley, is the barangay captain.
Alam said Cowley responded positively and promised to have her son surrender as soon as he communicated with her.
“Gani usa siya sa naguol kung naunsa na iyang anak. Ni-assist gyud siya (She was worried about what might happen to him. She really assisted us),” Alam said.
Around 8 a.m. Saturday, a concerned citizen informed police that Cabintoy was spotted in Barangay Carmelo.
Cabintoy told Alam that he saw police officers looking for him in Carmelo, but he was afraid they would harm him so he kept hiding. He added he was forced to hide after the accident because relatives reacted violently and he was afraid they would lynch him.
“Gitabangan kuno siya ug luok sa bus, mao nang minaog nalang siya ug nidagan. Grabe kuno kasuko ang mga paryente (He said they tried to strangle him in the bus, so he ran away. He said the relatives were livid),” Alam said.
Cabintoy said he was driving at 40 to 50 kilometers per hour (kph), which he said was not that fast considering he was traveling on the highway.
Alam said this claim matched the accounts of drivers who were first interviewed by police, who said the pick-up was running between 40 and 60 kph.
Alam added that the fact he and his passengers were not injured even if they weren’t wearing seatbelts would mean that his speed was moderate.
However, the impact was still strong enough to throw the motorcycle five meters away and to flip the tricycle upside down.
Alam said that even if Cabintoy arrives at a settlement with the relatives of those who were killed and wounded, they will still file a case of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide, multiple physical injuries and damage to property.
He is now detained at the Tuburan Police Station.
In Toledo City, a timekeeper was run over by a bulldozer inside a mining firm.
Florante Labra, 23, who hails from Barangay Sangi, Toledo City, was found lifeless after he got hit by a bulldozer operated by William Selisana inside the Carmen Copper Corp. in Barangay Don Andres Soriano, Toledo City at 5:30 a.m. Friday.
Labra’s remains were taken to the Marian Heart Funeral Homes while Selisana surrendered to the Toledo City Police Station. (MEA/Sun.Star Cebu)