5 MMDA workers sacked over hit-and-run

MANILA, Philippines - Five workers of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) arrested last Monday after figuring in a vehicular accident in Mandaluyong City were ordered dismissed from the agency.

MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino said the workers, members of the agency’s Metropolitan Social Services Office (MSSO), were all drunk when their Kia van  (SGS-155) sideswept Telesporo Magundayao, 31, a deliveryman for the Bermuda Hotel in Manila.

Police identified the enforcers as Orlando Quirabu, 37; Manuel Patriarca, 39; Jaime Vergara, 50; Jaime Equia, 47; and Ramuel Alegre, 42.

According to police, the MMDA workers were cruising along Correctional Road heading towards Nueve de Pebrero in Mandaluyong when their van sideswept Magundayao. Instead of stopping and bringing the victim to a hospital, the MMDA workers tried to speed off, but concerned passersby and bystanders blocked their van’s path.

According to police, the workers reeked of liquor and tried to resist arrest. Police charged them with reckless imprudence resulting in physical injury, resisting arrest and disobedience against persons of authority before the Mandaluyong prosecutor’s office. “Their actions discredit the (MMDA), and they should be held accountable. Such acts cannot be tolerated,” Tolentino said.

According to the MMDA, the five workers were on their way back to the MMDA office in Makati City from the Jose Fabella Center of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Mandaluyong City at about 2:30 p.m. when they figured in the incident.

All five MMDA workers have already posted bail and are due for arraignment on March 29. The Mandaluyong prosecutor has set the preliminary investigation of the serious physical injury charges against the workers on Tuesday.