Phillippines, CEBU City Councilor Edwin Jagmoc and three others figured in an accident in Barangay Sirao yesterday morning after the vehicle they were riding skidded and flipped over while going downhill.
Although he was the last one to get out of the vehicle, a black pick-up marked “SRP Police” with a Mercedes-Benz engine, Jagmoc was unscathed.

His companions, too, were unharmed.

Two of them even refused to be brought to the hospital, opting to guard the vehicle while waiting for it to be brought to the city.

Dondon, Jagmoc’s brother, told Sun.Star the vehicle slipped because the road was newly scraped, causing driver Emmanuel Cui, 39, to lose control.

Councilor Augustus Pe, who immediately went to Jagmoc’s aid after receiving his call, also said the pick-up negotiated a curb, swerved to the right side of the road and rammed the side of a hill before turning turtle.

Cui opted to swerve right because the left side of the road was a deep ravine, Pe added.

They were running at a moderate speed while heading to Barangay Guba for a seedling distribution project.

Mayor Tomas Osme-ña, in a press conference, assured the “Ssangyong” vehicle, one of four City Hall purchased from Korea at P940,000 each six months ago, was insured.

The vehicles were bought as an “experiment” to test them for their reliability. More will be bought if the evaluation is favorable.

Because of their powerful engines, the vehicles proved useful in negotiating narrow dirt roads in the city’s 30 mountain barangays.

Despite the accident, the mayor said it was not enough to serve as gauge whether the City will no longer use the vehicles.

Jagmoc was on his way to the mountain bara-ngay of Guba, where a ceremonial seedling distribution was being done, when the accident happened around 10:15 a.m.

With him was his executive assistant Wendel Cenas, 23, and administrative officer Ruth Mabitad, 26.

- Source from Sun Star (Jul 09, 2004) -