3 die after wayward 10-wheeler truck rams Bukidnon checkpoint

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – A village councilor and two barangay health workers died Friday night, March 20, when a 10-wheeler truck rammed into the quarantine checkpoint they were manning in Maramag town in Bukidnon.

The accident happened a few minutes before the start of Bukidnon’s province-wide indefinite lockdown to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Lieutenant Colonel Casan Ali, chief of the Maramag Municipal Police Station, identified the fatalities as Barangay Kagawad Aldren Gaitera, and barangay health workers Jomalyn Buhayon and Margie Maribao

Ali said a third barangay health worker, Beth Lumanca, was also injured.

All 4 were residents of North Poblacion, Maramag, Bukidnon. They were all on duty at the community quarantine checkpoint when a truck rammed it.

“They were manning a Community Quarantine Control Point at Sayre Highway, Camp-1, Maramag, Bukidnon,” Ali said.

The accident was a few kilometers away from the house of Senator Migz Zubiri and his father, Bukidnon Governor Jose Maria Zubiri.

Buhayon and Maribao were pronounced dead on arrival (DOA) at the Bukidnon Provincial Hospital in Maramag, by attending physician, Dr. Pericles Z. Tamsi.
Gaitera died Saturday morning, March 21.  Lumanca was transfered to the Northern Mindanao Medical Center in this city.

Bukidnon provincial Police Commander Colonel Roel L Lami-ing, said that investigation revealed that at around 11:45 pm Friday a 10-wheeler truck hauling sugarcane was travelling towards Don Carlos, Bukidnon when it ran over the community quarantine control point.

The truck, which had plate no. MDX-119, came from the Crystal Sugar Milling Company of P-9, Maramag, Bukidnon. 

The truck was driven by Jemuel Ompoc, a resident of Kimanait, Pangantucan, Bukidnon.

“He rammed the checkpoint, continued driving and rammed 2 other vehicles,” Lami-ing said.

Lami-ing added that Ompoc tried to elude arrest by running into the sugarcane field before he was arrested by police and the barangay tanod.

“Ompoc was under the influence of liquor and visibly drunk,” Lami-ing added. – Rappler.com