BMW victim flown home

At a spot in front of the Kamia Residence Hall inside the UP Diliman Campus, there is only a banner from loved ones thanking all who expressed grief.

The spot is where Precious Baldo, 20, was hit by BMW sedan (BPS-111) which ran out of control last Feb. 18.

Her family took her remains back to her hometown in Barangay Balili, La Trinidad, Benguet after a necrological service at the UP Church of the Holy Sacrifice early this week. Baldo, 20, an honor student in philosophy, was supposed to graduate this March.

Meanwhile, her campus-based organization, the UP Anido, which is made up of students from the Cordilleras, filed a complaint with the university’s Student Disciplinary Tribunal against the BMW driver, engineering student Richard Ong and his companion, business administration student Kenneth Soriano, 21. They may be expelled from the university if found guilty.

Baldo was watching over a ticket booth with fellow students Meryll Antonio, Gwendalyn Puyat, Giancarlo Ambrosio and Gerry Hipol for the "Death to Pop" concert at around 6:35 p.m. that fateful night . The BMW, bearing Ong and Soriano, who were allegedly under the influence of liquor, flew over a gutter, and plowed through a fence and rammed the booth before it turned on its side.

Baldo expired at the Veteran’s Memorial Medical Center a day after the incident. Antonio and Puyat, who suffered serious head injuries are confined at the St. Luke’s Medical Center. Ambrosio and Hipol suffered minor injuries and were discharged from the East Avenue Medical Center after treatment.

University officials also vowed to help the Baldo family pursue the criminal complaints filed with the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office. The UP Diliman Legal Office has leveled charges of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide and multiple physical injuries against Ong and Soriano. The two suspects, who suffered minor cuts and bruises as a result of the crash, have each posted a P15,000 bail for their temporary liberty.

Baldo, the second of four children, would have been the first member of her clan to ever graduate from college – an honor graduate at that. Her parents support the family by selling vegetables in the market.