Girl, mother to reunite after Barili accident

After six days of hospital confinement following a dump truck accident in Barili town, southwest Cebu, Cecilia Cereño, 29, will see her 2-year-old daughter Ashley again.

Cereno was discharged from the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) yesterday.

“I am happy to be out. Thanks be to God. Ashley and I will finally meet again,” she said.

Her husband Margarito also rejoiced.

Cecilia is planning to go home and rest before seeing Ashley, who suffered head injuries.

Ashley is still confined in the female ward. An aunt, Jennifer Fernandez, watches over the baby girl.

Fernandez said Ashley covers her face with a fan every time a stranger comes into the room. The girl is also scared of nurses.

She and her mother were in the front seat of a municipal dump truck carrying a coffin and several passengers when the truck lost its brakes and flipped on the road in Barili last week.

A total of 10 passengers were killed and 50 others were injured.

Thirteen of the injured are still in the hospital. Two, who were discharged yesterday, were scheduled for an ear, nose and throat operation.

Meanwhile, the Cebu provincial government will coordinate with Globe Telecom to set up a hotline for health emergencies in the towns.

Governor Garcia met with Globe and VSMMC representatives last Monday to discuss initial plans.

The Capitol plans to set up a province-wide health emergency system to respond to tragedies and calamities, said Dr. Gerardo Aquino Jr., VSMMC hospital chief.

The system “will establish pre-hospital care” and have a hotline number, Aquino said.

In a separate interview, Globe trade marketing manager Cleofe Albiso said they will send a text advisory to Cebu residents that “will include a very important hotline for emergency, which will tap all our district hospitals.”

A communication cetner will be set up at VSMMC where emergency calls will be received, Albiso added.

Phil Media is also coordinating with Globe and the provincial government.

The parties involved decided to craft a memorandum of agreement for the implementation of the emergency hotline, which is slated on Oct. 10, Aquino said.

The Barili Municipal Council passed a resolution on Wednesday’s session urging the Provincial Board and Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas to probe the incident, said Barili Vice Mayor Marlon Garcia.

The vice mayor said Councilor Hector Celis sponsored the resolution.

In a separate interview, Mayor Teresito Mariñas said he welcomed any investigation of the incident.

“If there are investigations, I welcome it as long as there are no hidden motives in it,” Mariñas said.

Mariñas, however, refused to comment on why dump truck driver Alwin Bayno, a job-order employee, was permitted to drive.

He said he will still check the Municipal Traffic Code.

Last Tuesday, Vice Mayor Garcia received a letter from a former municipal councilor urging them to investigate the incident.

Ramon Boy Ewican, in his letter, said Bayno wasn’t authorized to drive the dump truck or any Barili government-owned vehicle under Municipal Traffic Ordinance No. 7-2004.

The ordinance says, “No job-order worker shall be allowed to operate any vehicle.”

Ewican authored the ordinance in 2004.