Priest-driven pickup runs over, kills boy

CEBU CITY—A 4-year-old boy was killed on Thursday night after he was run over by a pickup driven by a priest on his way to a Mass at Senior Sto. Niño Parish Church in Barangay Paknaan, Mandaue City.

Fr. Pedro Lucio Dayag, priest from the University of San Carlos in Barangay Talamban, was released from detention at noon on Friday after the parents of Tris Vaughn Letrago decided not to sue him, said Mandaue City Traffic investigator Ruben Cerdeña.

Tristan Lascano and Realuna Letrago signed an affidavit of desistance that indicated that they had no plans of filing criminal and civil cases against the priest, Cerdeña said.

Dayag, 52, was driving a Mitsubishi Strada pickup at about 6:20 p.m. on S. Jayme Street toward the private road going to the church when Letrago went to pick up a bamboo pole that was accidentally thrown into the middle of the road.

As he was picking it up, the boy was run over by the right rear wheel of the priest’s vehicle. Cerdeña said Dayag didn’t notice that his vehicle had hit a boy until bystanders called his attention.

Dayag, together with the boy’s parents, brought the boy to the hospital.

Cerdeña said the priest later surrendered to Insp. Ramil Morpos, the deputy chief of the Investigation and Detective Management Branch of the Mandaue City Police Office.

Cerdeña said the boy’s relatives later decided to settle the matter and not press charges. Jhunnex Napallacan, Inquirer Visayas