Mayor dead, 3 hurt in car crash

SANTIAGO CITY—The mayor of the coastal town of Palanan in Isabela province died on  Thursday when his sport utility vehicle (SUV) slammed into a road block here.

His three companions, including the driver, were hurt.

Mayor Rodolfo Bernardo Jr., 57, was being driven to Cauayan City to take a flight to Palanan when the accident happened.

Bernardo died before reaching a hospital here. His companions, municipal planning and development coordinators Melito Casasola Jr. of Palanan and Emerson Velarde of Divilacan town, and their driver, Rommel Donato Alvarez, were hurt and taken to the hospital for treatment.

They came from Metro Manila where they attended a government planning seminar.

Alvarez told police he was overtaking a car and did not see a barrier of a road under construction. The impact burst the tires, throwing the vehicle five meters away.

Doctors said Bernardo died from internal hemorrhage due to multiple head injuries.

The Bernardo clan is the leading political family in Palanan, a town separated by the northern Sierra Madre mountains that can only be reached by airplane or by boat.

Bernardo ran and won as vice mayor in the May 9 election but was sworn in as mayor after his nephew, Mayor Angelito Bernardo, died on May 13, four days he won the election.

A cousin, Vice Mayor Elizabeth Bernardo-Ochoa, will succeed Bernardo. Ochoa was sworn in as vice mayor for being the top councilor in the May election. —VILLAMOR VISAYA JR.