Bus driver shot dead in road rage

DAGUPAN CITY—When bus driver Joseph Villacorta left the Solid North Transit terminal in this city in Pangasinan province for Cubao, Quezon City, about 2 p.m. on Saturday, little did his colleagues know that it was going to be his last trip.

More than an hour later, Villacorta, 42, was felled by a bullet near the boundary of Pangasinan and Tarlac provinces in Barangay (village) Carmen in Rosales town. The suspect: A pick-up truck driver, who had tried to overtake Villacorta’s bus in the slow-moving southbound lane of the MacArthur Highway in the area.

The suspect was later identified as Frederick dela Cruz, 35, a businessman from Quezon City.

“There was no quarrel,” said Wilfredo Villa, operations manager of the Solid North Transit here. “The bus driver and his conductor just wanted to talk to the pick-up driver about the bus’ broken side mirror. The truck driver was hot-headed,” Villa said.

SPO1 Oliver Vingua, who investigated the incident, said the bus and the truck were among the hundreds of vehicles crawling on a single lane as they entered San Manuel town in Tarlac at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

From two lanes, he said, they were to merge in that area to avoid hitting the base of an old welcome arch built across the road.

But as the bus swerved to the one-lane road, the truck allegedly overtook the bus, its right side mirror hitting the bus.

Police said Dela Cruz got off his truck, threw a rock that hit the bus’ left side mirror and got back to his truck.

Villa said Villacorta and his conductor, Melvin Intal, got off the bus and tried to talk to Dela Cruz. “But they were ignored. The pick-up truck driver just drove off,” Villa said.

But because of the heavy traffic, Dela Cruz’s truck did not get far.

It was here, Villa said, when Intal ran to the front of Dela Cruz’s truck to ask him to talk about the bus’ side mirror that he broke.

“But instead of getting off, the driver tried to hit Intal with his pick-up truck. He ran over the conductor’s foot, breaking his toes,” Villa said.

He said that when Intal fell, Villacorta got off the bus to help him. “At this point, the pick-up truck driver got off with a clutch bag, pulled out his gun and shot Villacorta, hitting him in the chest,” Villa said.

Villacorta died while policemen were taking him to the

Dr. Chan Memorial Hospital in Barangay (village) Carmen in Rosales.

Dela Cruz drove off with his truck, which police later intercepted in San Manuel, Tarlac.

Dela Cruz, however, was no longer driving the pick-up truck when it was stopped. It was Dela Cruz’s wife, Catherine, 33, who was then driving and she told policemen that her husband had boarded a passenger bus.

Aside from his wife, Dela Cruz’s passengers were his three children aged 14, 9 and 7, police said.

Villa said Villacorta, a resident of Urdaneta City, was a jolly and a hardworking person.

“He laughed and always smiled. He worked hard for his five children that included two sets of twins,” Villa said.

“This is the first time that it happened to our bus company since we started operations in Pangasinan three years ago,” he said.

Villa said Solid North’s bus drivers are properly trained and they undergo periodic seminars on road courtesy and defensive driving.

Vingua said the shooting could have been avoided if drivers exercised basic road courtesy. “They should be patient and cool-headed,” Vingua said.

Traffic had been heavy in several parts of the MacArthur Highway because of repairs on sections from Moncada, Tarlac, to Sison, Pangasinan, and the thousands of motorists returning to Metro Manila after the holidays. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon