12 hurt as jeep hits 2 cars in Antipolo

A dozen people were hurt Sunday when a passenger jeepney slammed into two cars on a steep and curved portion of Sumulong Highway in Antipolo City, almost at the same spot where a runaway 18-wheel cargo truck crashed into a row of houses and killed eight people three days before Christmas last year.

“Thank God, no one died. Those who were hurt sustained [only] minor injuries and fractures,” Joey Marco, head of the city government’s rescue unit, told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

Those who were hurt were identified as Hanna Allones, 39; Brigetta Dapitan, 39; Ian Paul Patricio, 20; Queenie Reillo, 21; Frances Estipona, 21; Andrew Relos, 23; Hazel Asuncion, 20; Ronald Sermina, 22; Vivian Regular, 53; Danica Asuncion, 19; Gil Briones, 39; and Dessylene Quezada, 21.

Most of them were jeepney passengers while the others came from the two cars involved in the accident which took place around 9 a.m.

All were taken to Amang Rodriguez Medical Center for treatment.

The Quezon City-bound passenger jeepney was traveling on Sumulong Highway in Barangay Mambugan when its brakes failed, its driver Florencio Villareal told the police.

According to him, he lost control of the vehicle which swerved onto the opposite lane. Villareal, who was later arrested by the police, hit two cars before the jeepney crashed into the garage of a house.

“It’s the driver’s fault, not the road. But I’ll still bring this case up at the meeting of [the city’s department heads] on Monday,” Marco said.

He added that the city government would ask the Department of Public Works and Highways to install a concrete barrier in the accident-prone area to protect residents from “delinquent drivers.”

On Dec. 22, an 18-wheel truck plowed into two vehicles, a row of houses and an eatery on Sumulong Highway, leaving eight people dead and 12 others injured.

An initial police investigation showed that the accident happened after the brakes of the cargo truck failed.