CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—The number of casualties in Sunday night’s road mishap here has risen to seven as Vanessa Tadla succumbed to injuries at the hospital on Monday.
Cugman Police Station Head Inspector Evan Vinas identified the driver of the cargo truck as Freddie Talisayan, 30. Felix Talisayan, Freddie’s brother, serves as his assistant, and both were detained.
The grim vehicular accident killed Ronnie Abrio and his three children Kenneth, Sophia and Stephanie on the spot. It also killed transgender woman Vivienne Nacaya and May Buñor.
Investigation showed that Freddie was driving drunk when his truck first rammed Abrio’s motorcycle, then, trying to flee the scene, he again slammed head-on with a “motorela” (tricycle) driven by Kent Felicilda with four passengers just in front of the Cugman police station.
Killed on the spot was passenger Buñor, who was thrown out of the vehicle.
After slamming into the motorela, Freddie Talisayan continued to drive, pursued by police, before his truck slammed into another motorcycle, driven by Kurt Angel Buhawi, killing his back rider Nacaya on the spot.
Tadla, according to police, died at the Northern Mindanao Medical Center on Monday morning.
Felicilda said he had picked up his passengers from Centrio Mall and was just a few meters away from their destination when the truck rammed them.
Felix Talisayan told the media his assigned vehicle had rammed the victims’ vehicles, but he was not driving the cargo truck. Felix said he did not drink that day, but his brother Freddie was.
“I was the one who took the vehicle out of the compound after I was dispatched to get the chicken from El Salvador town,” Felix said.
Felix said Freddie, also a driver, was drinking from 10 a.m. on Sunday. “When I left the compound, he wanted to come with me, so I let him in, I thought that he would just sleep at the backseat,” Felix said.
After they left the compound, the brothers had an argument because Freddie wanted to drive.
“I parked the truck and we had an argument and he won over me, he started the truck so I climbed back in,” Felix said.
From the compound to where Freddie first hit the Abrios, it was less than a kilometer. “He was driving around 100 kilometers,” Felix said.
“I told him that he hit the motorcycle, he just would not listen. I tried to stop him, but he just continued to drive,” Felix said.
After hitting the Abrios, the truck rammed the motorela less than 200 meters away, and Freddie continued driving for another kilometer before hitting Buhawi and Nacaya, and before slamming into a jeepney and a stockpile of an on-going road widening project.
Felix said he got off the truck to seek help, while his brother jumped off into the stockpile and hit his head, causing injuries. It was at this point that the police arrested the brothers.
Sought for comment, Freddie said he had no recollection of what happened, and he did not know how he ended up driving and killing seven persons along the way.
Police have filed reckless imprudence resulting to multiple homicide, multiple serious injuries, and multiple damage to properties against the Talisayan brothers.
