MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) A vacationing Filipino expatriate who came home for the holidays met an unfortunate death onboard a taxi that was crushed between two trucks early Friday morning along Edsa-Mandaluyong.

The Mandaluyong Traffic Police has identified the victim as Josele Laquindanun, 23, of San Isidro, Masantol, Pampanga.

The deceased’s relatives told police that Laquindanun came home from New Jersey and has only been in the country for a week and was set to return to the US soon. He may have been en route back to his hotel in Makati city when the accident happened, they added.

Case investigator Inspector Elmer Constantino said in an interview that at 12:10 a.m. Friday, Laquindanun was riding a Yatze taxi, with plate number PBX 834, that was plying along the Edsa underpass in Barangay Highway Hills, Mandaluyong, when a truck behind lost control, slid on the downward sloping road and dragged the taxi.

The impact squashed the taxi at the back of another truck in front of it.

The taxi driver, Samuel Enriquez, 57, was still under surgery at the Mandaluyong Hospital in Maysilo, Mandaluyong.

The suspect, Luisito Manio, 36, a resident of Sta. Rosa, Nueva Ecija, is driving for the company owned by the Aqua Pisces Trucking. He claimed that the truck he was driving, with plate number CWB 168, had lost its brakes which led to the accident.

Constantino said Manio is facing charges of reckless imprudence with damage to property, serious physical injury and homicide.