2 girls killed, pals injured in motorcycle–truck collision

The parents of two young girls thought they were out to eat tempura being sold along the road near their homes in Barangay Polpogan, Consolacion town in northern Cebu on Tuesday night.

They were shocked when they were informed by their neighbors that Keithlin Lleve, 13, and Queenie Singson, 14, figured in a motorcycle accident with two young men along the national highway of Barangay Pitogo, Consolacion, at least three km from their houses.

Police said Lleve, Singson, Darwin Saraguyo, 20, and Aldrin Jordan, 18, were on board a single motorcycle that collided with a 10-wheeler trailer truck about 10:20 p.m. on Tuesday.

Lleve succumbed to multiple injuries in the head and body at 3:06 a.m. on Wednesday at the government-owned Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in Cebu City.

Singson died in the same hospital at 5:53 a.m. Saraguyo and Jordan, who were both from Barangay Jugan in Consolacion, were still under observation at the VSMMC.

PO1 Jean Pierre Punay, traffic investigator of the Consolacion police station, said Lleve’s mother told him that the girl was supposed to sleep at 8 p.m. on Tuesday when Singson, a neighbor, asked her to go with her to eat tempura being sold at the roadside.

The parents of the two girls did not know that they went to Barangay Jugan, he added.
Punay said that while they did not know what the two girls did in Jugan, their investigation showed that the two men came from a drinking session in Jugan. He said the liquor test showed that Saraguyo was under the influence of liquor when he drove his motorcycle with three passengers on board.

Punay said Saraguyo did not also have a driver’s license when the accident happened. None of the four victims wore a helmet.

He said their investigation showed that the victims came from Barangay Jugan and were believed to be headed to Polpogan to bring home the two girls. But upon reaching the national highway in Barangay Pitogo, the motorcycle crossed the national highway but collided with a trailer truck that was carrying a 10-footer van which came from Mandaue City on its way to Tuburan town in northern Cebu. The container van was loaded with air-conditioning units that were supposed to be transported to Iloilo City through the wharf in Tuburan.

Truck driver Jerson Misa Coyoca, 40, of Daanbantayan town, said the motorcycle suddenly crossed the road and by the time he saw the vehicle, it was too late to step on the brakes.

The motorcycle was dragged by the truck while the four victims were thrown onto the ground, said Punay. Coyoca was detained at the Consolacion police station to face charges of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide and physical injuries.