Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 27) — The Land Transportation Office (LTO) on Tuesday issued show cause orders against drivers involved in two separate hit-and-run cases in Parañaque City.
The first show cause order was issued against Raymond Zaparain, the owner and driver of the motor vehicle with plate number UXO-295 that allegedly sideswiped and caused serious physical injuries to a street sweeper last Sept. 24 along Elizalde Avenue corner Aguirre Avenue, Brgy. BF Homes, Parañaque City.
The victim, 63-year-old Doreen Bacus, is still at the Philippine General Hospital where the family is waiting for their mother’s condition to normalize before undergoing an ear operation, son Jade said in a report in CNN Philippines’ Traffic Center.
Zaparain is currently detained at the custodial facility of the Parañaque City Police Station for reckless imprudence resulting to physical injury, city police traffic investigator Police Corporal Arnold Baraquel told CNN Philippines’ Traffic Center.
Meanwhile, the second order was issued against Rodolfo Cudiamat, the driver of the motor vehicle with plate number NCV 4752, and Visitacion Hugo, the owner of the vehicle allegedly involved in a hit-and-run incident against two children walking along Bodoni St. corner Extra St., 4th Estate, Brgy. San Antonio, Parañaque City last Sept. 20.
The incident resulted in the death of a three-year-old child while her companion sustained injuries.
LTO Chief Teofilo Guadiz III condemned the actions of the drivers who “showed indifference” and were “adamant in denying any wrongdoing on their part,” also noting the “callousness and recklessness of some drivers plying our roads today.”
“Are our streets already this dangerous?” Guadiz asked. “Is it because of the presence of ill-disciplined drivers who seem to have utter disregard of our traffic laws that were placed for the safety of both drivers and pedestrians? How many lives, particularly that of children, will be placed in danger because of these perennial road safety violators?”
He also said current traffic laws must be revisited to give it more teeth and weed out “bad-egg” drivers.
Summoned drivers were ordered to appear at the LTO-National Capital Region office in Quezon City to explain why their motor vehicle registration and driver’s license should not be suspended and/or revoked for alleged violation of traffic laws such as Improper Person to Operate a Motor Vehicle, Reckless Driving, Abandonment of Victim, and other traffic laws, rules, and regulations.
Guadiz said the drivers will not be allowed to apply for a driver’s license anymore or drive a motor vehicle once proven guilty.
