The danger of drowsy driving manifested itself again in Catanduanes last week when two vehicles driven by sleep-deprived drivers were involved in separate crashes just 15 hours apart, killing a nine-year-old girl and injuring seven other people in Virac and Viga.
The first incident occurred along the national highway in barangay P. Vera (Summit), Viga at 4 PM of Sept. 1, 2026, when a white Mitsubishi L300 van driven by a 60-year-old businessman crashed into a roadside store.
Barangay captain Jaide T. Bernisca immediately called the Viga Municipal Police Station, with Deputy Chief of Police PLt. Ronnie A. Agawin sending a team along with personnel of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO).
Witnesses told the authorities that the victims, who were aged 77, 51, 28, 10 and 9 years old, were inside the store when it was rammed by the vehicle.
One of the victims was pinned beneath the front part of the van, with residents helping to extricate him to safety.
The rescue personnel applied first aid to the victims, who sustained various injuries in the different parts of their bodies, before they were rushed to the Viga District Hospital for appropriate medical attention.
Initial investigation showed that that the driver fell asleep at the wheel of the van, which went out of control and hit the store at the roadside.
The following morning at about 7:18 AM, Sept. 2, San Vicente resident Angeles Francisco, 58, was driving his two grandchildren – Zacharia Jane Francisco Tayas, 9, and Zaliyah Gem Francisco Tayas, 5 – as backriders on a Keeway motorcycle when he maneuvered to the side of the highway just in front of the gate of the San Vicente Elementary School in Virac.
At the same time, a jeepney with plate number EVG935 and driven by Rey delos Santos Tarin, 40, of Progreso, San Miguel, was bound for Virac from Nursery, San Miguel when it started veering off to the right.
Apparently, Tarin had fallen asleep at the wheel and lost control of the vehicle.
As the two Tayas children alighted from their grandpa’s motorcycle, the runaway jeepney rammed the metal traffic sign on the road before striking the nine-year-old pupil, her sister and their grandpa who was still astride the motorcycle.
The jeepney ran over Zacharia Jane and moved forward by about 10 meters before it finally stopped, as horrified bystanders, residents and parents bringing their children to school rushed to the fallen victims’ aid.
An employee of the Virac MDRRMO from San Vicente who happened to be jogging on the same road flagged a passing L300 rescue vehicle of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO).
The seriously injured girl was loaded onto the vehicle and brought to the Eastern Bicol Medical Center where she was declared dead on arrival by Medical Officer III Dr. Graciela G. Rodulfo.
Responding personnel from Virac MDRRMO brought Zaliyah Gem, who had bloody bruises, to the same hospital while the Virac Fire Station headed by FSInsp. Dennis V. Tadoy deployed EMS personnel to the scene where they administered first aid and wound care to Francisco and stabilized him for transport to EBMC.
The grandfather reportedly sustained a possible dislocation of the left shoulder and multiple abrasions on the upper body.
Both the drivers in the two accidents have been arrested and would face appropriate charges, with Tarin to be charged with Reckless Imprudence Resulting in Homicide and Physical Injuries.
In the wake of the twin mishaps, the Catanduanes Police Provincial Office (CatPPO), through PLCol. Emsol Icawat, chief of the Provincial Administrative and Resource Management Unit (PARMU), reiterated its strong appeal to all motorists, particularly public transport drivers, to refrain from driving when fatigued and to exercise extreme caution, especially when traversing designated school zones.