Warning device fails to save surgeon
By Marlon Ramos
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:29:00 11/22/2008
Filed Under: Road Accidents, Local authorities
MANILA, Philippines – An early warning device meant to save motorists from accidents led to the untimely death of a surgeon after the car he was driving crashed into a lamppost as he tried to avoid a warning sign on the Edsa-Roxas Boulevard flyover in Pasay City early Friday morning.
Dr. Jose Javier Suntay, 51, a resident of 59 Dacca Street, BF Homes Northwest, Parañaque City, expired while undergoing treatment at the San Juan de Dios Hospital around 4:20 a.m.
A report from the Pasay Traffic Enforcement Unit said the doctor worked at the Makati Medical Center (MMC).
But Jun delos Rinos, MMC telephone operator, said the victim was no longer connected with the hospital, adding that the doctor only maintained a clinic in MMC for a few months.
Senior Supt. Raul Petrasanta, Pasay police chief, said Suntay died of severe injuries on his head and upper body.
Petrasanta said the doctor was driving home his Toyota sedan (PNE 838) around 2:10 a.m. when he suddenly steered the car to the right as he tried to avoid the warning device that repairmen from a company contracted by the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) allegedly put up on the flyover.
He said personnel of Rayville Electrical Construction Corp. were then repairing busted lights of lampposts in the area.
The early warning device, he said, was placed at the back of a truck owned by the contractor.
“The driver apparently lost control of the vehicle which turned counter clockwise and hit the electric post,” Petrasanta said in his report.
He said bystanders and passing motorists pulled out the victim from the crushed metal parts of the vehicle and rushed him to San Juan de Dios Hospital where he later died.
Petrasanta said they would look into the possible complicity of the repairmen in the tragic accident if the victim’s relatives decide to file a case against the contractor.
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