CEBU, Philippines - A member of the City Traffic and Operations Management (Citom) and two policemen were injured after the patrol car they were riding rammed into the center island along N. Bacalso Avenue shortly past noon yesterday.
The three were reportedly on their way from the southern part of the city to take their lunch after conducting a roving patrol when the accident happened.
The victims were identified as PO3 Mercidita Carticiano, PO1 Marlon Gonzales, and Calbert Malicay who sustained the most injury.
Carticiano narrated that she was sitting at the front seat while Malicay drove the gray Toyota Revo patrol car with plate numbers SHC-942 on the way to the office when it suddenly rammed into the center island fronting Citi Link at around 12:30 pm.
The three, led by Carticiano, were on their way to their office canteen after roving the city since 6 a.m. They were supposed to continue roving after lunch up to 2 p.m.
Carticiano said Malicay was just driving slowly when the patrol car suddenly rammed into the center island which, she said, was believed to be accident-prone.
According to her, people believe the center island is “taw-an” or haunted by evil spirits because of the many vehicular accidents there.
Due to the impact, Malicay banged his face on the steering wheel and suffered a cut on his jaw while the policemen suffered chest pains when a hard object hit their chests.
They were rushed to the nearby Miller Hospital where Malicay had some stitches for the cut on his jaw.
The bumper of the patrol car was also partly opened and the lower front portion was also damaged.
An investigation is being done to determine what really caused the accident. (THE FREEMAN)