LAST Monday, August 1 at 11 p.m. a vehicular accident happened somewhere in Suwawan, along the Davao-Bukidnon Highway. Two men were reported dead as a consequence.
Actually there is not much to crow about the accident. It happens more often and it becomes a major story only if the vehicular accident results to several deaths of human beings like what happened recently in Nasugbu, Batangas where an entire family perished for a total of an 8-person casualties.
But what made the Suwawan accident quite attention-getting for the authorities is that other than the two victims who died as a result, there is also a potential disaster the tanker truck’s cargo can bring on the waters of the Suwawan and Davao Rivers. The latter body of fresh water is where the former is a major tributary.
According to the Marilog police station commander whose men conducted the investigation on the accident, the cargo of the tanker truck is a liquid chemical which is toxic. In fact, the police official claimed he had already received reports that some fish in the river have already been found floating dead in the river banks.
Thus, the possibility is that the chemical could have poisoned the aquatic life on the river. It was a good thing that the City Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO) in Davao City immediately issued a warning to residents not to take a bath in the Suwawan and Davao Rivers, or eat anything edible from there until after the authorities will have examined the waters thereat and declared it safe.
This accident though is some kind of a wake-up call for the proper authorities to look into the requirements in the transport of toxic chemicals, may they be liquid, gas or powder. The proper agencies must look into the mode of transport, the qualifications of the driver or sea vessel patron and most important the worthiness of the transportation.
In the case of the Suwawan accident the police probers believed that the driver lost control of the vehicle possibly because its brakes did not anymore function as expected. For us, maybe it is too early to conclude that the brake malfunction was the cause of the accident. We believe that it could be either the failure of the tanker owner to do the proper maintenance of his vehicle, or that the driver could have slept while maneuvering his vehicle on that portion of the highway.
We are a previous regular user of that road and we are familiar with the contour of the road especially where the accident happened. That particular section of the highway is plain and still not circuitous. So the weight of the cargo could not have affected the performance of the brake system.
However, if the driver slept a little then his speed must have been faster than the normal and when he suddenly woke up applying the brake was possibly not anymore the best option. Or he could have tried to push the brake much harder causing the vehicle to swerve and overturn. In the process its liquid cargo spilled right into the river.
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The local government of Davao City is not leaving any stone unturned, so to speak, to ensure the security of people and property during the celebration of the Kadayawan Festival this month of August.
According to the police office in the city it is deploying some 2,700 policemen all over the city with a good number of law enforcement personnel to be assigned in areas where major activities will be held during the peak of the festivities.
We believe that the move by the Police in coordination with the local government authorities is most welcomed by the people. At this time when there are those who would want to express their ideologies or dissent in more dramatic ways, the police can never afford to be complacent.
And should anything of that sort happen and will have its casualties tourists or even residents enjoying the many events, such could be a major slap on the police and other related agencies. No matter what the cause of the possible perpetrators having slipped into the city and succeeded in their dastardly act could only mean ineptness of the law enforcement groups. And this inability to prevent such untoward incident will of course rub in on the local civilian authorities when the blame game starts.
Of course, we the people, especially the local residents, have our innate responsibility to help in the prevention of any untoward incident that could result to the loss of lives, injuries and destruction to property and dishonor to the local government.
Any one of us must immediately report to the police the presence of any individual doing some suspicious activities in our respective community. The police will only succeed in their mission if we too help them do their job. After all “we are in this together.” That is, making a peaceful celebration of such well-anticipated activity like the Kadayawan Festival.
