Families, UP community shocked by accident that killed student, guard

ILOILO CITY—An accident that killed a student and a security guard of the University of the Philippines-Visayas (UPV) in Iloilo on Friday has shocked their families and the tightly knit school community.

Sympathy and calls for support have poured for the families of first year student Alyssa Marie Naranjo and security guard Carlito Muzones who died near midnight on Friday after the tricycle they were riding was hit by two trucks in Miag-ao town, around 42 kilometers south of Iloilo City.

Five other students, all taking up public health, were injured and hospitalized. Two of them suffered serious injuries, said PO2 Placido Naces, desk officer of the Miag-ao police.

Naces said the victims were aboard a tricycle and were on their way to the school dormitory after attending a party inside the campus when the accident happened.

The tricycle was crossing an intersection of the national highway and the road leading to the dormitory when it was successively hit by the two trucks.

Police have detained truck drivers Vicente Casiple and Ranyl Jicaraya, who will face charges of reckless imprudence resulting to multiple homicide, physical injuries and damage to property.

Witnesses said the trucks were traveling fast when they hit the tricycle in the dimly lit area near the campus entrance, said Naces.

The eldest of three siblings, Naranjo was a consistent honor student, a poet and a recipient of several journalism awards when she was in high school at  Ateneo de Iloilo.

Her schoolmates and friends have posted prayers and words of gratitude for her friendship in her Facebook account.

Calls for support have also poured in for Muzones, the school security guard who drove the tricycle. “He had five small children and was the sole breadwinner. He tried to augment his income by driving a tricycle after his work,” said Naces who knew the victim.

In Albay, three persons were killed when a tricycle collided with a bus in Daraga town on Friday. Police said Robert Valenzuela, tricycle driver, and his passengers Armando Tango and Levi Tolentino, all of Guinobatan town, died when the tricycle they were riding swerved into the lane of the bus. No bus passenger was hurt, police said.

Bus driver Samuel Alogbate of Natagob, Leyte, fled after the incident, while the conductor, Vicente Jamin of Calumpang, Leyte,  was placed under  the custody of the Daraga police. With a report from Mar S. Arguelles, Inquirer Southern Luzon