Fatal accident, rude welcome mar Arroyo visit to Negros
10/17/2009 | 01:32 PM
A fatal road accident involving security troops and a rude welcome from militant protesters in Bacolod City marred President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s visit to Negros Occidental Friday.
Negros-based news site Visayan Daily Star reported Saturday that a taxi driver was killed while his passenger was hurt after figuring in an accident with police troopers on their way to secure Mrs. Arroyo.
A truck carrying troopers from the 6th Regional Mobile Group hit the taxi in Silay City in Negros Occidental, while trying to avoid a Toyota Fortuner sport-utility vehicle in front of it.
Silay police head Superintendent Jerry Bartolome said the seven-man RMG team was heading for Bacolod City as part of the police contingent providing security to Mrs. Arroyo.
The Fuso Canter truck they were riding hit the taxi at the newly constructed diversion road in Hacienda Normandia, Bagtic village in Silay City.
Killed was taxi driver Mario Belinario, while passenger Jonalyn Libron, 31, was injured. Two RMG troopers who were not immediately identified were also hurt.
The Silay City-owned Canter truck driven by PO1 Rhovil Buelos went out of control after its brakes failed.
It hit the taxi, which fell into a canal. Belinario and Libron, as well as the two RMG troopers, were rushed to the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City.
Belinario was declared dead on arrival at the Silay hospital, while Libron was later transferred to a hospital in Bacolod City for further treatment. The two RMG troopers were released.
Boos in Bacolod
Meanwhile, militants slipped past police and jeered Mrs. Arroyo at a city road project site there.
Mrs. Arroyo was in Bacolod City Friday to inaugurate the Bacolod-Kabankalan road project in the city’s Tangub village.
The report said that as Mrs. Arroyo waved to people through the open window of a bus, members of the Kabataan party list group showed up and shouted for her ouster.
Police rushed to the protesters and covered their mouths until the presidential convoy left.
In Bata village, 30 members of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and allied groups carried streamers calling for Mrs. Arroyo’s ouster and waited for her convoy to pass Bangga Pepsi.
But this time, policemen prevented them from getting near the President’s bus and dispersed them when they started to get unruly.
The militants said Mrs. Arroyo is not welcome to enjoy the city’s MassKara festival because many are suffering under her administration due to poverty and hunger.
Last year, five militants were jailed and charged for interrupting Mrs. Arroyo while she was delivering her speech at the Bacolod Public Plaza at the opening of the MassKara.
City Police officer-in-charge Senior Superintendent Celestino Guara blamed traffic for the protesters’ surprise action.
He said the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office’s 30-man Civil Disturbance Management Team got stuck in the traffic at the Circumferential Road and failed to arrive on time.
Guara also blamed last-minute changes in Mrs. Arroyo’s schedule, saying it hindered them in setting the policemen’s areas of assignment. - GMANews.TV
Negros-based news site Visayan Daily Star reported Saturday that a taxi driver was killed while his passenger was hurt after figuring in an accident with police troopers on their way to secure Mrs. Arroyo.
A truck carrying troopers from the 6th Regional Mobile Group hit the taxi in Silay City in Negros Occidental, while trying to avoid a Toyota Fortuner sport-utility vehicle in front of it.
Silay police head Superintendent Jerry Bartolome said the seven-man RMG team was heading for Bacolod City as part of the police contingent providing security to Mrs. Arroyo.
The Fuso Canter truck they were riding hit the taxi at the newly constructed diversion road in Hacienda Normandia, Bagtic village in Silay City.
Killed was taxi driver Mario Belinario, while passenger Jonalyn Libron, 31, was injured. Two RMG troopers who were not immediately identified were also hurt.
The Silay City-owned Canter truck driven by PO1 Rhovil Buelos went out of control after its brakes failed.
It hit the taxi, which fell into a canal. Belinario and Libron, as well as the two RMG troopers, were rushed to the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City.
Belinario was declared dead on arrival at the Silay hospital, while Libron was later transferred to a hospital in Bacolod City for further treatment. The two RMG troopers were released.
Boos in Bacolod
Meanwhile, militants slipped past police and jeered Mrs. Arroyo at a city road project site there.
Mrs. Arroyo was in Bacolod City Friday to inaugurate the Bacolod-Kabankalan road project in the city’s Tangub village.
The report said that as Mrs. Arroyo waved to people through the open window of a bus, members of the Kabataan party list group showed up and shouted for her ouster.
Police rushed to the protesters and covered their mouths until the presidential convoy left.
In Bata village, 30 members of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and allied groups carried streamers calling for Mrs. Arroyo’s ouster and waited for her convoy to pass Bangga Pepsi.
But this time, policemen prevented them from getting near the President’s bus and dispersed them when they started to get unruly.
The militants said Mrs. Arroyo is not welcome to enjoy the city’s MassKara festival because many are suffering under her administration due to poverty and hunger.
Last year, five militants were jailed and charged for interrupting Mrs. Arroyo while she was delivering her speech at the Bacolod Public Plaza at the opening of the MassKara.
City Police officer-in-charge Senior Superintendent Celestino Guara blamed traffic for the protesters’ surprise action.
He said the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office’s 30-man Civil Disturbance Management Team got stuck in the traffic at the Circumferential Road and failed to arrive on time.
Guara also blamed last-minute changes in Mrs. Arroyo’s schedule, saying it hindered them in setting the policemen’s areas of assignment. - GMANews.TV
