Hit-and-run victim’s sister seeks help in finding suspect

WHO OWNS this car? This still frame image taken at 6:32 a.m. on Feb. 8 from a closed circuit television camera installed at the corner of Ayala Avenue and V. A. Rufino Street shows a blue car after it hit a former barangay captain from Batangas who was crossing the intersection. The driver fled and authorities are appealing for help in finding him. MAKATI TRAFFIC BUREAU

Do you know the owner of this car?

The family of a former barangay captain has appealed to the public to help them find the driver of a blue car—described as a 1992 Toyota—which struck the 54-year-old victim as he was crossing at the corner of Ayala Avenue and V. A. Rufino Street in Makati City on Wednesday morning.

Alexander Luistro, former barangay chair of Ayao-Iyao in Batangas province, sustained massive head injuries after he was thrown several meters away due to the impact.

He was rushed to Makati Medical Center where he remains unconscious at the intensive care unit after he was operated on for internal bleeding in the brain.

Edna Luistro Manlugon, his older sister, said that aside from his head injuries, the victim also broke a thigh bone. “The doctors said that if he survives the next 48 hours, he has better chances of surviving,” she added.

Case investigator PO2 Marte Caesar P. Bueno said the accident happened at around 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday on Ayala Avenue in front of the Standard Chartered Building near the corner of V. A. Rufino Street.

Luistro was with two other Ayao-Iyao residents, Leon and Josefina Ilagan, whom he was accompanying to a travel agency in Makati City.

“Luistro and his companions had alighted from a jeep in front of the Standard Chartered Building. Since it was still early and the underpass at the corner of Ayala and V. A. Rufino was still closed, they took the pedestrian lane in between the Standard Chartered Building and the LKG Tower,” Bueno said.’

The three were preparing to cross to the center island when a blue car running at about 80 kph hit Luistro with its right headlight.

Instead of stopping, the driver sped off toward Paseo de Roxas. Two men tried to give chase but failed to flag down a motorcycle.

The car was caught on closed circuit television cameras but its license plate was not distinguishable. Bueno said that anyone with any information about the vehicle should call the Makati Traffic Bureau at 8999007.