Samar lawmaker’s driver found unconscious in locked car

Samar Rep. Edgar Sarmiento looks worried while medics try to revive his driver Robert Dela Cruz, 40, who was found unconscious in a locked car after session adjourned Wednesday night. Sarmiento believes his driver was suffocated while sleeping inside the vehicle. PHOTO/ Marc Jayson Cayabyab, INQUIRER.net

THE driver of Samar Rep. Edgar Sarmiento was found unconscious inside a locked car just after session adjourned at the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

The driver, Robert Dela Cruz, 40, was pulled out of the vehicle before 7 p.m. at the parking lot in front of the South Wing Annex building in the Batasan complex.

Medics tried to revive Dela Cruz who was unresponsive until he was carried into an ambulance past 7 p.m.

Rep. Sarmiento, the younger brother of former Samar Rep. and former Interior Sec. Mel Senen Sarmiento, arrived at the scene looking worried as medics try to revive Dela Cruz.

When Dela Cruz was brought into the ambulance, the congressman went inside and tried to revive Dela Cruz by pumping the latter’s chest.

A distraught Sarmiento told reporters that he had been calling up his driver after the session adjourned 6:30 p.m. but Dela Cruz was not answering.

It was only after he sent his staff to look for Dela Cruz when the latter was found unconscious in the vehicle.

He said the window of his car had to be broken to open its door and pull out the unconscious Dela Cruz.

Sarmiento said he suspected his driver was suffocated inside the vehicle while sleeping with the airconditioning unit on.

Reporters looked at the exhaust pipe and noted that the 2009 Mercedes Benz was parked so close to the parking curb that the exhaust pipe was blocked at the mound.

“He’s been with me for quite some time. Seven years. He’s like a brother to me,” Sarmiento said.
He said his driver has a habit of sleeping inside the car with  the doors locked and the airconditioning unit turned on.

“I’m hoping that he can survive,” Sarmiento said.