PB to ask police to fast-track investigation

THE Cebu Provincial Board (PB) will ask the police to hasten its investigation on the freak vehicular accident that killed two people and left 16 injured in the southern town of Barili last Saturday.

Results of the investigation will be needed by the PB to tackle proposed improvements on measures regarding road safety, said PB member Gigi Sanchez-Zaballero.

“We will ask the provincial police for inputs so that we will know as to what really happened,” Zaballero told Cebu Daily News yesterday.

The board has yet to convene but Sanchez said a resolution for the purpose is already being drafted by her staff and the office of Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale.

According to initial police investigation, the truck which was carrying cases of beer was cruising along the national highway on its way to Malabuyoc town from Cebu City when the driver noticed that the brakes were malfunctioning.

The driver, Adonis Quinanola, then decided to steer the truck towards a Multicab and a motorcycle, before it hit a house and an internet café full of children playing video games.

Two people died from the incident including 22-year-old Jennifer Martillan who was able to set aside her baby, John Clark, a few moments before the vehicle crashed into their house in barangay Sta. Ana.

She said provincial officials are now mulling improvement on how to decrease the number of road accidents through better use of signage and early warning devices especially in accident-prone areas.

“I think a lot of incidents have happened in that particular road. It is really prone to accidents,” she said.

Zaballero, along with Alex Binghay, is representing Cebu’s third district in the PB which covers the towns of Aloguinsan, Asturias, Balamban, Barili, Pinamungahan, Tuburan and Toledo City.

Financial assistance

Meanwhile, Zaballero said her office and the Cebu provincial government is ready to send help to the families of the victims in the road mishap.

A P10,000 burial assistance will be given the family of Jason Vergara, 10, and Martillan who both died from the incident.

She said her office is also willing to send help to families of the injured victims who are currently admitted in Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) and Barili District Hospital.

The PB is also set to approve a resolution today extending its sympathies to the families of the injured and the deceased, she said. /Peter L. Romanillos, Correspondent