3 killed in Cotabato road crash

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines —Three people died in a road crash on an unlit stretch of a major road in M’lang town, Cotabato province.

M’lang Vice Mayor Joselito Piñol said three vehicles were involved in the accident at the village of Lika.

Piñol said the fatalities—Archie Sagcelo, Saicy Dimalaluan and Trixie Morga—all suffered head injuries.

A fourth person involved in the crash—Joseph Molina—was brought to hospital for fractures, according to Piñol.

The M’lang police said Molina was pushing a motorcycle along the unlit highway when another motorcycle carrying three persons—the fatalities in the crash—hit him.

The impact threw the second motorcycle onto the path of a Ford Everest, owned and driven by Benny Queman, station manager of Radyo Bandera based in Midsayap, Cotabato.

The three people on the second motorcycle were crushed by Queman’s SUV.

Queman immediately surrendered to police but insisted he was not at fault.

In a Facebook post, Queman sought forgiveness from relatives of the three fatalities.

“Lord I am sorry,” his post read.

Queman is now in the custody of the M’lang police. An investigation is ongoing.

One of the fatalities’ relative, who identified himself as CJ Lim, said the fatalities were headed to a disco party in a sub-village near the crash site.

Lim said Saicy, his niece, defied her parents’ refusal to allow her to go to the party and went with an adopted daughter of a relative and another girl.

“The sad thing was they brought with them the minor daughter of our neighbor,” Lim said in a text message to the Inquirer.

“We don’t blame anybody especially that it was an accident. No one wanted this to happen,” Lim said. (Editor: Tony Bergonia)