INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The licenses of two drivers have been revoked after they were found guilty of reckless driving for bumping two children – killing one of them, and running over a street sweeper in Parañaque City.
The Land Transportation Office (LTO) said it canceled the driver’s licenses of Raymond Zapirain and Rodolfo Cudiamat and held them liable for the administrative violation of reckless driving as they were tagged as “improper persons to operate motor vehicles.”
Zapirain and Cudiamat were also ordered to pay fines of P2,000 and were perpetually disqualified from securing a driver’s license and driving a motor vehicle, according to the regulatory office.
The LTO noted that Zapirain is the registered owner and driver of the SUV that hit and seriously injured 63-year-old street sweeper Doreen Bacus last September 24 in Barangay BF Homes, Parañaque City.
The incident was caught on CCTV, which showed the street sweeper doing her job while on the side of the road and Zapirain suddenly bumping her. The victim was then dragged and eventually ran over by the vehicle.
READ: SUV hits street sweeper on roadside in Parañaque
Cudiamat, on the other hand, was the driver of a vehicle involved in another hit-and-run incident where one of the two victims died.
Last September 20, two children were walking along Bodoni Street corner Extra Street, Fourth Estate, Brgy. San Antonio, also in Parañaque City, when they were hit by Cudiamat’s vehicle, resulting in the death of a three-year-old.
“Our roads have no room for these ill-disciplined drivers who continue to ignore our traffic laws, even to the point of feigning innocence that what happened was an accident,” LTO Chief Teofilo Guadiz said in a statement Thursday.
“Traffic laws are in place for the safety of both motorists and pedestrians, and the LTO cannot allow these drivers to continue operating motor vehicles without regard to safety. They must suffer the consequences of their actions,” he added.
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