SABANGAN, Mountain Province – Four persons, including a retired DENR official, two public servants and a businessman, cheated death after their vehicle plunged into a 50-meter deep ravine at sitio Tiguing, barangay Losad here recently.
Inspector Alyson F. Kalangad, acting chief of the Sabangan Municipal Police Station, identified the survivors of a recent vehicular accident as retired DENR-CAR technical Director, Forester Basilio Mamanteo, Municipal Councilor Ernesto Bondad, Ceasario Bondad businessman and Denver Puyongan, former Barangay kagawad, all residents of Poblacion, Sabangan.
Initial police investigation showed the four individuals were on board a green Strada pickup driven by Mamanteo when the vehicle reportedly suffered mechanical trouble on its brake system forcing the driver to lose control causing it to plunge into the 50-meter ravine.
Mamanteo and Bondad reportedly came from a political meeting in Upper Sabangan when the incident happened.
It was learned that Mamanteo, a retired DENR-CAR official, already declared his intention to run for mayor, while his vice-mayoralty candidate is Ernesto Bondad, a three-term councillor, in time for the May 2016 synchronized national elections .
Responding police operatives, elements of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in Sabangan, employees of the rural health unit and municipal disaster risk reduction and management council (MDRRMC) were able to extricate the victims from the accident site using the spine board of the local government.
Councilor Bondad sustained a fractured right arm and minor bruises in the different parts of his body while his companions also sustained slight injuries in the different parts of their bodies.
Mamnteo’s vehicle sustained heavy damage as a result of the impact of its fall into the deep ravine.
By Gabriel Moguet
