Couple moan delay in Pasay court decision

A balikbayan couple from Hawaii are lamenting the long delay in the promulgation of the sentence in the case they had filed for the road accident that claimed the life of their teenaged son, hospitalized the wife, and injured their two other children.

Mel and Nora Sison, formerly from Alcala, Pangasinan and Masbate, said that Judge Manuel Dumatol of the Pasay City Regional Trial Court Branch 112 still has to promulgate the decision in the case, three years after the termination of the hearings.

They arrived from Hawaii last Nov. 25 in another hopeful wait for the promulgation of the decision.

The case involved a vehicular accident on July 11, 1995 involving an armored car of the Philippine National Bank during the Sison family’s vacation in the Philippines.

Mrs. Sison said that they were on their way to Tagaytay when the accident happened.

Mrs. Sison said that her son Michael, 13, died in the accident, while their daughters Leila and Joy suffered bruises. She said that Michael had wanted to go horseback riding in Tagaytay.

"I was hospitalized for about a week at the Capitol Medical Center," she said.

The couple said that they have been coming to the Philippines at least twice a year, and spending up to $2,000 a month following up the case.

"We’ve lost almost all our savings in Hawaii. We still have no house in Hawaii because of our expenses in the case," they said. – Efren Danao