ILOILO, Philippines – Two men died and two others were injured when a delivery truck of a soft drinks company rammed into a line of trees and crashed into a house owned by a policeman in Barangay Iwa Ilaya, Pototan, in Iloilo midday last Tuesday.
The fatalities were identified as Alfredo Salgado and Rene Parcullo, 40, both residents of Brgy. Ungka II, Pavia, Iloilo. Salgado’s brother, Marlon, was also injured and is in critical condition after sustaining head and body injuries. The three were on board the delivery truck.
The truck driver, Freddie Lorilla, 40, of Barangay Tigbayog, Calinog, Iloilo, suffered minor injuries.
According to PO2 Alejandro Davilla, the 10-wheeler truck was coming from Passi City and was on its way to the Coca Cola plant in Ungka, Pavia when the accident happened.
Witnesses said the truck was travelling on high speed when it hit four big mahogany trees, shoved a tricycle, and crashed into the house of SPO3 Nono Patriarca.
The impact detached the tricycle’s side sidecar. One of the mahogany trees fell and damaged a house. No one was inside the tricycle and two houses when the incident occurred.
Witnesses claimed that the driver lost control of the truck.
Residents in the area rushed the victims to the Iloilo Provincial Hospital in Pototan town but Alfredo was declared dead on arrival. Parcullo died an hour later.
Initial police investigation theorized that the vehicle had some mechanical trouble or that the driver failed to apply breaks.
“There was no skid mark on the road,” Davila noted. – Jennifer P. Rendon/JMO (THE FREEMAN)