Driver in Camiguin mishap to face raps

MAMBAJAO, Camiguin – Charges will be filed against the driver of the van that crashed and caused the death of three persons in Barangay Poblacion here on June 22, police said Monday.

The van’s driver Joy Sobremisana will be sued for reckless imprudence resulting in homicide, said Mambajao municipal police chief, Capt. Arnold Gaabucayan.

“We are just waiting for the hospital to issue death certificates for the dead before we can endorse the complaint to the prosecutor’s office,” Gaabucayan said.

Investigators said the van was full of passengers-most of them employees of the Davao City-based call center company IBEX

Global--when it lost its brake and crashed. The passengers were in Camiguin for a teambuilding activity.

Police identified the fatalities as Julie Ann Mae Oliva, Jovert de Asis, and Ian Jumahali.

The survivors are now recuperating and are awaiting advice from the Mambajao Provincial Hospital management before they could be discharged, Gaabucayan said.

One of the injured, Rose Anne Balaba, remains confined at the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, Gaabucayan said, adding that the patient is in critical condition although attending physicians have noted her brain activity was stable.

Gaabucayan said doctors are waiting for Balaba’s condition to improve before she could be transferred to a bigger medical facility in Cagayan de Oro, possibly to undergo an operation.

The police chief added the families of the victims have already arrived in Camiguin as their needs are being addressed by their employer.

Mambajao mayor and Camiguin governor-elect Jurdin Jesus Romualdo said he reached out to the victims’ families to personally inform them of their situation right after the incident.

Romualdo said he also made sure that the victims are well-taken care of and that their needs are properly addressed.