A young mother’s last act of love yesterday saved her three-month-old son from sure death in a freak vehicular accident in the town of Barili in soutern Cebu.
Jennifer Martillan, 22, was breastfeeding her baby at around 6:30 a.m when a 10-wheeler truck crashed into their house a few meters from the main highway in barangay Sta. Ana.
Jennifer threw the baby to the side before she was hit by the careening truck and was killed on the spot, said her 75-year-old grandmother Bini Vicentillo.
The infant, John Clark, was rushed to the Barili District Hospital with 15 others who were injured in the accident, inlcuding the truck driver. Half of the wounded were children.
The baby is out of danger, but was among seven victims transferred to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City for further treatment. Eight of the injured were children aged 4 to 14 years old.
“Ang bata tua pa, gi-X-ray kay gasige pa ug kurog. Gi-CT scan na to siya pag-abot namo,” Vicentillo said yesterday afternoon. (The baby was undergoing an X-ray scan because he’s still convulsing. He underwent a CT scan when we arrived in the hospital.)
Also killed in the accident was 11-year-old Anderson Jason Vergara, who was pinned down by the front axle of the truck.
The boy was playing video games in an Internet café next to the smashed house, like most of the injured children, said PO3 Jorve Timagos of the Barili police.
Among those injured were: John Philip Guro, 5; Franklin Guro, 14; Maria Guro, 7; John Carlo Guro, 6; Mary Joy Guro, 4; Genara Bayabos, 54; John Michael Selitona, 11; Florencio Selitona, 48; Romeo Bayabos, 53; Jude Martin Buhay, 8; Jose Aguilar, 53; Joshua Vergara, 14; Roqate Vergara, 9; Luis, Bayday, 57; and the truck driver, Adonis Samolde Quiñanola.
A hospital staffer said John Michael Selitona was in critical condition.
Police said the truck, which was carrying cases of beer, was cruising through the national highway on its way to Malabuyoc town from Cebu City, when the driver noticed that the brakes were malfunctioning.
The driver, Adonis Quiñanola, said he tried to warn people on the road by sounding the truck’s horn until he lost control of the wheel.
The truck, which is owned by JAK Logistics Transport, rammed a Multicab and a motorcycle before crashing into the house and an Internet café. The truck flipped over and dumped hundreds of cases of beer from its cargo hold.
The driver said he steered the truck towards the parked Multicab, hoping this would stop the heavy vehicle from crashing into people along the road.
“Wala na gyud ni-paak ang brake. Ni-decide na lang ko nga ibangga kaysa daghan pa ug maangin,” he said in a radio interview. (The brakes wouldn’t work. That why I decided to ram the truck hoping this would save lives.)
PO3 Timagos said the driver and his assistant, Elmer Kolango, are under police custody. The driver will be charged with reckless imprudence resulting to homicide and physical injuries and damage to property. /with a report from Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac