10 dead, 8 hurt as passenger van hits truck in Davao City

DAVAO CITY—At least 10 people died while eight others were injured after a passenger van smashed into a truck in Bunawan district here on Wednesday morning, police and rescuers said.

Nine of the victims died in the crash site while another died while being taken to a hospital, according to Senior Insp. Ma. Teresita Gaspan, Davao City police spokesperson. The fatalities included the van driver.

The van came from Monkayo town in Compostela Valley province and was heading to the Davao City center when it crashed into a Davao del Norte province-bound truck on the opposite lane past 5 a.m.

Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte assailed several government agencies for their apparent failure to impose discipline on drivers of public utility vehicles plying the city following Wednesday’s accident.

“It seems that authorities have again faltered in their duties and obligations,” he said.

Enacted in 2013, Executive Order No. 30 set the speed limits for all kinds of motor vehicles from 30 kilometers per hour (kph) within the city center to 60 kph along national roads leading to its northern, southern and easternmost entry points.

Duterte, son of President Duterte, said the city saw a remarkable drop in deaths from road accidents when the ordinance was implemented four years ago.

Duterte said he had been calling the attention of personnel from the Land Transportation Office, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, and the city transportation and traffic management office to discipline van and bus drivers entering Davao City as well as jeepney drivers plying the southern route.

A series of fatal accidents involving passenger jeepneys, locally known as “uso-uso,” plying the southern districts of Toril and Talomo had prompted city legislators to impose speed limits on the regional capital’s major roads.

“To the families of the victims, we regret your loss,” Duterte said. RJLA