5 dead, 11 injured in Cavite road crash

KAWIT, Cavite - Five people perished while 11 others were injured Wednesday morning when a passenger jeepney rammed a concrete electric post on Centennial Road in Barangay Tabon III, in this municipality.

Chief Inspector Dhefry Adaya Punzalan, municipal police chief, said that the accident happened as the jeepney, with plate No. DVK 713, was traveling along the highway at around 6:15 a.m.

“Walang ibang involved na sasakyan, self-accident po. Bumangga ito sa poste (No other vehicle was involved. It was a self-accident. The vehicle struck an electric post),” Punzalan said in an interview with a television network.

Punzalan confirmed that nine of the passengers incurred severe injuries.

The ill-fated jeepney, according to witnesses, was moving in a wayward manner before it slammed into the electric post.

“We presumed that the jeepney had lost its brakes before hitting the concrete post,” Punzalan told this reporter.

The victims were mostly employees, according to Punzalan.

Punzalan identified the fatalities as Lorena Abiera Isaias, 43, a resident of Binakayan, Kawit; Lorena Purification, 44, of 774 Medicion 2-F, Imus District; Malanie Andaya Macalalad, 32, of Medicion 1-B, Imus; Florijane Archivida, also of Imus and Christian Pallera, 36, of Medicion 1-D, Imus District.

They suffered severe injuries and died on the spot.

The injured were Joanna Campos, 31, Arjay P. Valencia, 24, Jullan Villamor, 24, Jovie Love Cañada, 27, Rosalie Raquea Pallera, 40, Armando Molina, 69, Richard Refonte, 26, Elizabeth Guttierez, 33, Fatima Illardo, 23, Hazel Dimaala, 29, and Emmanuel Asis Genzole, 52, the jeepney driver.

They sustained body injuries and were brought to Divine Grace Medical Center in General Trias and Kalayaan (Freedom) Hospital in Kawit.

Centennial Road is the longest road in Kawit that connects the town to General Trias.