Driver begs; cops to file cases Friday

Please don’t file charges against me because it was an accident.”

This was the plea of the driver of the truck trailer who  caused the eight-vehicle smashup in barangay Canduman, Mandaue City, killing a lawyer and injuring four others last Tuesday.

“Kinasing-kasing jud nako pag-hangyo nga dili ko nila pasakaan ug kaso kay dili gyud na tinoyo gyud. Pamilyado intawon ko, unsaon nalang akong pamilya kung wala na ko (I heartily beg the victims not to file a case against me because what happened was an accident. I have a family. What will my family do if I will be gone),” said Victorino Bitoon, 39, driver of the truck trailer who’s now detained in Basak police station.

Police, however, are set to file three cases against Bitoon on Friday. They said they were still gathering affidavits of the victims and witnesses.

SPO4 Apolinario Niez, Mandaue City traffic investigator, said the cases expected to be filed would be reckless imprudence resulting to homicide, reckless imprudence resulting to multiple physical injuries and reckless imprudence resulting to damage to properties.

Bitoon, who earns P300 a day as a driver and a breadwinner of the family, now worries about how to send his three children to school and provide them with their basic needs.

Bitoon claimed to have been a driver for more than 10 years. He worked as a driver in Abu Dhabi for four years before working in Yuson Contruction in Liloan town, north Cebu,  for over a year now.

Bitoon also claimed earlier that the truck didn’t have a hand brake but the main brake was checked and it was okay in the morning.

Bitoon also said that he was the truck trailer driver for only over a week in the company since he was the company’s payloader operator for a year.

Last Tuesday afternoon, Bitoon said he was driving the truck trailer to deliver a backhoe bucket to the construction company when its brakes malfunctioned.

“Pag-abot nako sa eskina sa Canduman, pwerti man daghana nagpundok mga 30 ka multicab. Di nilihay ko diri sa tunga aron malibre sila (When I reached Canduman, there were a lot of multicabs on the side. And so, I maneuvered the truck to the center so that I wouldn’t hit them),” said Bitoon, who also pointed out that his speed before  the accident was 30 kilometers per hour.

The truck trailer, however, hit seven other vehicles including the multicab, driven by lawyer Rogelio Yaun, 68, who died in the accident.

Yaun, who was from Medellin town, northern Cebu, was a former administrative department head in the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA).

Ahmed Cuizon, Land Transportation Franchise and Regulatory Board in Central Visayas (LTFRB-7) director, said Yaun was a pioneering employee in MCIA and resigned three years ago. /Jucell Marie Cuyos, Correspondent