Sison town in Pangasinan (Google maps)
DAGUPAN CITY — A pastor and a man believed to be mentally challenged were struck and killed on Monday (July 24) by a sports utility vehicle (SUV) in Sison town in Pangasinan province.
Pastor Rainero Loquero of the Bible League Philippines died in the way to a hospital while the other victim, whose identity has been kept confidential at his family’s request, died during treatment, said Senior Inspector Mark Anthony Aningalan, Sison police chief.
Loquero and the man were waiting for a bus bound for Metro Manila at the shoulder of the south-bound lane of the Manila North Road in Barangay (village) Artacho at 3: 10 a.m. when the pastor’s companion suddenly tried to cross the highway. A coming Toyota FJ Cruiser hit him and the pastor.
Aningalan said the SUV driver had tried but failed to evade the mentally challenged man and the pastor.
The SUV driver, Bernard Douglas Roales, 39, a businessman from Baguio City, is now detained as cases of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide are being prepared against him, according to the police. SFM/rga