BUSAY ACCIDENT: Kin of victim decide to forego autopsy

The relatives of Engr. Saturnino Plaza, who was killed along with his nine-year-old son Genar Leo after their car plunged into a ravine in Busay last Monday, will no longer request an autopsy on his body as they were convinced what happened was an accident.



This was what the Homicide Section chief Insp. Mario Monilar told reporters yesterday.

The family of Plaza earlier went to the Homicide Section asking for "a deeper investigation" to shed light on why the car fell off a 300-meter ravine in sitio Maaslom, barangay Busay.

Monilar told The Freeman that he brought them and witness Darby Arcillo to the site so Arcillo can narrate what he saw before the incident took place.

Monilar said Arcillo, who was heading downtown, tailed the car of the victims, a white Hyundai. About 400 meters from where it plunged he said Arcillo noticed the car was not running normally because it is swerving from right to left.

He continue to follow the car and managed to get a closer look at the people inside.

When they are about 100 meters from the crash site, Arcillo then saw the child get hold of the steering wheel and the vehicle fell into the ravine.

Monilar earlier theorized that Saturnino might have already sensed something was wrong with his car and tried to save himself and his son by going outside the driver side door, this was because the front passenger door could only opened from the outside.

But after the reenactment last Thursday afternoon, Monilar said it could also be that Saturnino might have been disabled prompting his son to grab the steering wheel.

"Mga 100 meters before sa incident area, nakita niya (Arcillo) ang bata nga nikupot sa manibela...murag ang atong tan-aw nga ang bata mi-try gyud nga masalbar silang duha, indication kini nga duna gyuy di na maayong nabatyagan sa lawas ang amahan diha pa lang sa unahan," Monilar explained.

Monilar added that the boy, who was already wounded in the head, even asked Arcillo to help his father first, not minding his own injuries. The two were declared dead when they arrived in Perpetual Succour Hospital.

The rescuers had difficulty in retrieving the victims because of the stiff slope and the shrubs and dead trees along the way to the crash site. - Edwin Ian Melecio/BRP