3 dead, 3 hurt in Sarangani highway mishap

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Three commuters died on the spot while three others were critically injured after a tricycle and an SUV collided along a highway in Barangay Nagpan, Malungon, Sarangani on Saturday, July 4.

Two passengers of the tricycle, Celvic Calaque and Ian Corrales and their driver, Johnrey Coralles, were all declared dead on arrival by physicians at a hospital where emergency responders from the Malungon municipal government brought them for treatment.

Local executives and Lt. Col. Jovenson Bayona, chief of the Malungon Municipal Police Station, separately told reporters on Sunday that the blue tricycle and the white Toyota Rush collided head-on at a portion of the General Santos City-Digos Highway in Purok Malakas in Barangay Nagpan.

The tricycle, carrying five passengers and its driver, was on its way to the town center of Malungon, from General Santos City, while the Toyota Rush was from Digos City, en route to somewhere in Sarangani province, according to barangay officials in Nagpan.

The three seriously injured tricycle passengers, Joel Panaligan Jr., Gene Paul Bagay and Joel Mezane, are now confined to a hospital.

The driver of the Toyota Rush peacefully turned himself in to police investigators and barangay officials who responded to the incident, according to officials of the Malungon police force.