Maasin City, Southern Leyte – A police officer who left his parents? residence in Barangay Ibarra, this city to allegedly fetch his children at St. Joseph College was crashed when he accidentally sideswept a bicycle driven by unidentified person causing his motorcycle to swerve and lost control, according to the police.

The victim was identified as SPO1 Jesus Jayvee S. Tan, 38 years old, resident of Brgy. Laboon. He was rushed to the provincial hospital for treatment by the responding police team.

His wife, an elementary school teacher, who deeply grieved by the sudden death of her husband refused to be interviewed regarding the circumstances leading to the incident.

Tan, like his father, is a tennis player even before he became a policeman. He has continued to play tennis most of the time after his duties or when on leave. A co-player said that they were having a drinking spree at the Maasin Tennis Club before he (the victim) decided to go to Barangay Ibarra to visit his father who is sick. Another reason in going there is to check if his 2 children were already in Barangay Ibarra. A source said that it is always a routine for him during school days to fetch his children at the school after their classes.

It was believed that at the time he was going out and drove towards the downtown of Maasin City, he was to fetch his children at the school. However, no relative of the victim can confirm to this claim, much more his grieving wife, who was inwardly sobbing in sorrow and don?t want to talk about the topic. Besides, it was already past 10:00 p.m. when the accident happened on October 3, 2008.

During the accident a witness claimed that the victim, by the impact of the speeding motorcycle and abrupt swerve, was thrown away and turned turtle several times, then plunged into a coma right after the incident. Due to his serious injuries and critical condition he was referred to the Bethany hospital in Tacloban City, 180 kilometers away from Maasin City.

X-ray results showed that he sustained 4 broken ribs. His head was also swollen, which is the reason why the attending physician could not operated on him, said a senior policeman. A huge hematoma appeared on the right portion of his ribs. When the doctor decided to incise it, our source said, a huge amount of blood oozed out filling a gallon.

Our reliable source further said that he believed the broken ribs have injured some of the victim?s vital organs causing an internal hemorrhage. The accident occurred during the recent evening before 11:00 p.m.and died the following day at 1:30p.m. (Quirico M. Gorpido, Jr.)

About the Contributor:

Mr. Quirico M. Gorpido Jr was an erstwhile Correspondent/Contributor to the following weeklies and dailies: Tacloban-based regional weekly a 33-year-old The Reporter for many years(now defunct), a Cebu-based weekly The Visayan Express(now defunct),Cebu-based daily The Freeman(1994-1998) now a sister publication of The Philippine Star, Maasin-based weekly The Southern Leyte Times for three years, Tacloban-based daily The Leyte Samar Daily Express(2000-2001), Cebu-based daily the Cebu Daily News(2002-2003), Tacloban-based weekly 7-year-old Tribune(2003-2007).