Speeding truck kills ex-national chess champ

SAN FABIAN, Pangasinan, Philippines – The family of former National Junior chess champion Solomon Bautista has appealed for help as a speeding truck sideswiped and killed him last Tuesday along the highway in Barangay Tempra Guilig here.

Priscilla Bato Escama, Bautista’s mother-in-law, told The STAR that the chess champion’s death came as shock to them, as he left his wife Marie Reverie and three children, the youngest of whom is only five years old.

“He brought big pride and honor to the country. He started playing chess when he was five years old,” Escama said.

She added that she hopes her son-in-law’s fellow chess players and other chess enthusiasts, especially those whom he had met when he was still alive, and other friends would extend recognition or other means of condoling with his family.

Bautista, 38, volunteered to buy ice from a sari-sari store and while sending a text message by the road shoulder, an Isuzu Elf truck driven by one Reymar Pacay, 24, sideswiped him.

Pacay is now detained at the San Fabian police station.

Bautista worked abroad, after which he put up a shop here doing electrical and computer repairs.

His remains lie in state at the family residence in Barangay Tocok here.