AGOO, La Union (Eagle News) – Twenty people, including children, from the same extended family and neighborhood on board a jeepney were killed early Monday, December 25, in a head-on bus collision while travelling to Catholic dawn church service in Agoo, La Union province, police said.
Their vehicle, a private Isuzu jeepney, was reportedly on its way to Manaoag when the accident happened around 3:30 a.m. Monday.
The dead included six children.
A report by the Philippine Star named some of the jeepney passengers who were bound to attend mass at the Our Lady of Manaoag Minor Bassilica in Manaoag, Pangasinan as: Pepito Antolin; Virgie Antolin 34; Mark Jerson Cabero, 7; Cecilia Antolin; Johnny Cabradilla, 43; Chita Cabradilla; Florence Cabradilla; Vicky Antolin; Adela Antolin; jeepey driver Rolando Perez; Hanna Ramirez 10; a 5-month old baby and Claudine Cabradilla.
A police report said that the jeepney driver, 34-year old Rolando Perez, and 18 other jeepney passengers were declared dead on arrival at the La Union Medical Center.
“They (the family) were trying to catch a mass in Manaoag,” Agoo police officer Vanessa Abubo told AFP.
Police are still investigating the incident.
Police chief supt. Romulo Sapitula, police regional director of Ilocos, said they are also investigating a report that the Isuzu jeepney driver, Perez, was drunk or had a few drinks before he drove the vehicle.
Agoo police chief Roy Villanueva said that the jeepney had left its lane to overtake another vehicle.
Some of the injured were transferred to the ITRMC or the Ilocos Training and Regional Medical Center.
Based on the police’s initial report, the PARTAS bus was travelling north on its way to Laoag, Ilocos Norte, when it hit head-on the jeepney driven by Perez which was on the wrong lane, apparently as it was trying to overtake another vehicle.
The Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board has not yet made any statement on the matter, as it said it would still wait for the police report before it would issue any suspension on the companies involved.
Ten other occupants of the Isuzu jeep were injured, while 15 passengers of the PARTAS bus were also hurt, including its conductor, according to a police spot report.
(with a report from Agence France Presse)