Fr. Pedro Dayag was emotional when he delivered his homily during a Mass at the Sto. Niño Parish church in barangay Paknaan, Mandaue City on Thursday evening.
Fr. Dayag sought forgiveness after he sideswiped a four-year-old boy as he was driving to the church to celebrate Mass.
Tris Vaughn Letrago, died a few minutes after he was rushed to a hospital.
The priest said he was driving at low speed when the accident occurred.
“Dili man ka maka- speed dinha kay daghan man tawo ug hinay raman ko ug dagan (You have to slow down because there’s a lot of people there),” Fr. Dayag said.
Dayag, 52, a priest from University of San Carlos (USC) Talamban-Campus, drove a Mitsubishi Strada truck with plate number YJE-429.
The boy was reportedly playing with other children on the road near the church when the accident happened at 6:20 p.m.
The car was slowing down from S. Jayme Street on its way to a private road leading to the church.
Mandaue City Traffic investigator Ruben Cerdeña said while the children were playing, the bamboo pole which Tris Vaughn was playing with was accidentally thrown to the middle of the street.
The boy chased the stick but he fell down and was run over by the right rear wheel of the SUV.
Cerdeña said the priest failed to notice that he had hit the boy right away but people alerted him.
The priest got off from the SUV to check on the boy.
The priest and the boy’s parents took the boy to the nearby Velez Hospital but they were advised to transfer the victim to Dr. Ignacio M. Cortes General Hospital where the boy died.
The priest recalled that the boy kept calling her mother while they were heading for the hospital.
At the hospital, Fr. Dayag said he asked permission from the boy’s mother Rhea if he could leave for a while to officiate a Mass. The mother agreed.
The priest later surrendered to Insp. Ramil Morpos, the deputy chief of the Investigation and Detective Management Branch (IDMB) of the Mandaue City Police Office.
Police released the priest yesterday afternoon after he and the boy’s parents reached an amicable settlement.
“Sorry jud sa nahitabo dili ni nako gusto nga mahitabo. Tanan mga tulubagon dili nako likayan akong tumanon (I am really sorry for what had happened. It was not my intention. I will fulfill everything that I promised to shoulder,” Fr. Dayag said./WITH CORRESPONDENTS JHUNNEX NAPALLACAN AND NORMAN V. MENDOZA