BY SHIELA G. GELERA
The driver of a Ford Mustang and his two passengers died when they hit the rear portion of an Isuzu 10-wheeler truck in front of the Jetti gas station at the Circumferential Road in Barangay Villamonte, Bacolod City, at about 1 a.m. yesterday.
The fatalities were Stanley Flores, Welton Porcel, and Mark John Porcel, a police report said.
Traffic investigation showed that the sports car driven by Flores with the Porcels as passengers was travelling north of the Circumferential Road when it hit the rear of the truck it was trailing and got stuck underneath.
The truck was loaded with sugarcane.
The car was a total wreck and the three died on the spot.
Flores, who came from his restaurant, was ferrying the Porcels home when the accident happened.
Their friend, Ronnie Maribojoc, told Aksyon Radyo-Bacolod that Flores had a drinking spree at his restaurant and decided to bring the Porcels home to Barangay Banago, saying he could still drive.
P/Maj. Charles Gever, Station 4 chief, said yesterday that the police could not determine yet if Flores was indeed under the influence of liquor as his body had not been subjected to alcohol test.
With the impact and after-accident condition of the Mustang, it could be that Flores may have been over speeding, Gever said.
The driver of the truck, identified as Michael Mejica, 42, of Kabankalan City in Negros Occidental, was detained at the custodial facility of Station 4 as part of procedure while investigation was ongoing.
Mejica will be released once the 18-hour reglementary period lapses, Gever added.
The bodies of the victims were brought to the Rolling Hills Memorial Chapel.*
