By Jennifer P. Rendon
Another teenage rider died in a motorcycle crash early morning of Oct 28, 2021 in Carles, Iloilo.
John Paul Dumaguin, 17, a resident of Sitio Cambalatong, Barangay Bancal, Carles succumbed to multiple injuries on different parts of his body.
Police accounts indicated that the incident occurred 3:30 a.m. Thursday while Dumaguin was driving home.
Dumaguin’s Suzuki Raider 150R motorcycle rammed into a palm tree. He was allegedly drunk.
Respondents took him to Carles Rural Health Unit where he was declared dead on arrival.
On Oct 8, a 17-year-old driver and his back rider were also killed after their motorcycle rammed into a truck in Lemery, Iloilo.
The fatalities were identified as John Rey Alarba, and his companion, Manuel Gille, 23, both construction workers and residents of Barangay California, Barotac Viejo, Iloilo.
Three days before that, a 17-year-old also died after his motorcycle crashed into a concrete wall in Dumangas, Iloilo.
Police identified the victim as Michael June Gadia, 17, a resident of Barangay Ilaya 3rd, Dumangas.
Police earlier called on parents not to allow their minor children to drive.
For some legal luminaries, parents allowing their minor children to drive without a driver’s license is tantamount to child abuse punishable under Republic Act 7610 (Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Acts).
Allowing a minor child to drive falls under the other forms of abuse enumerated in Section 10 (a), Article VI of RA 7610.
Atty. Persons Acosta of the Public’s Attorney’s Office earlier said that under this provision, the acts cited in Article 59 of Presidential Decree (PD) 603 that are prejudicial to a child’s development are included among those penalized under the child abuse law.
The law states that “Criminal Liability shall attach to any parent who: Allows or requires the child to drive without a license or with a license which the parent knows to have been illegally procured. If the motor vehicle driven by the child belongs to the parent, it shall be presumed that he permitted or ordered the child to drive.”
