Three men, one of them a student, died successively before the weekend, while four others were hurt in a motorcycle collision at a stretch of Pila Municipal Road in Barangay Tubuan, Pila, Laguna.
The fatalities suffered severe injuries and were brought to Laguna Medical Center (LMC) in the nearby capital town of Sta. Cruz for emergency treatment.
Police investigators identified the fatalities as John Paul Ansay, a senior high school student, of Brgy. Nanhaya, Victoria, Laguna; Jeorge Dandi, 22, married, a jeepney driver from Brgy. Bulilan Sur, Pila; and Albert Deita, 25, a construction worker from Brgy. San Francisco, Victoria town.
Being treated for severe facial and head injuries and under close observation at the Intensive Care Unit were Jericho Juarez, 18, and Aaron Dominic Manabat, 17.
Two other female students who figured in the accident suffered only superficial injury and were pronounced out of danger.
Initial reports indicated that Dandi and Deita may have died on the spot, while Ansay expired after six hours.
According to Police Senior Inspector Celso Jhune Talampas, commander of the Pila branch of the Philippine National Police (PNP), five persons, all students, on board their motorcycle driven by Juarez were cruising late Thursday night along Brgy. Tubuan Late Thursday coming from Victoria town when they collided with the other motorcycle.
They were part of a two-motorcycle convoy, one of which had been flagged at a checkpoint, so they packed the remaining motorcycle with five riders to continue the journey.
It was not immediately clear how the law enforcers manning the checkpoint could have permitted this to transpire.
On board that other motorcycle, which reportedly did not have its lights on, were Dandi and Deita, who appeared to be driving under the influence of liquor and swerved suddenly into the collision path.