Fil-Canadian who helped ‘Yolanda’ victims dies in Calgary car crash

He didn't even have time to rest from the experience.

Filipino-Canadian Francis Pesa had just seen the scale of death in Leyte left by Typhoon Yolanda before dying himself on a wintry street in Canada, just two hours after he arrived from the Philippines.

Pesa, 20, passed away Monday morning due to injuries he sustained in a car crash with an allegedly drunk driver, the Calgary Sun reported. He spent five days in critical condition at a local hospital.

The Calgary Sun report said the accident occurred on New Year’s Day evening, a few hours after Pesa and his family returned to Canada from their month-long trip to the Philippines.

Pesa’s girlfriend, Christina Quach, said the crash occurred as she and Pesa were on their way to buy food for the family shortly after she picked him up from the airport.

A report from the Calgary Herald said Pesa flew to the Philippines with his family last December to donate medical supplies, clothing and money to the victims of Typhoon Yolanda.

Ronald Pesa, Francis’ cousin, told the paper his Canada-based kin were “greatly affected” by the news that more than 40 of their relatives in Tacloban City died in the typhoon.

He said his cousin and his family devoted their short stay in the Philippines to helping typhoon victims and visiting relatives in far-flung areas who survived typhoon Yolanda.

The crash

Based on the Calgary Police’s investigation, a southbound Dodge Ram suddenly crossed the center line and swerved into the northbound lane, sideswiping a Mazda car before crashing into the BMW sedan driven by Pesa. The Ram collided with a Buick Enclave afterward.

Pesa was conscious at the time of the crash up until the paramedics arrived, Quach was quoted as saying.

A 24-year-old pregnant woman who was in the Buick and her companion were also injured in the accident, Global News Canada reported.

The Ram’s 36-year-old driver, Kulwinder Singh Chohan, has been charged with impaired driving, impaired driving over the legal limit of 0.08g/100 mL, and impaired driving causing death.

Quach, who sustained minor injuries in the crash, told the Calgary Sun she was still in disbelief over Pesa’s untimely demise.

“I’m just so speechless — you’d think someone that old (referring to Chohan) would make good decisions,” she said. “The fact someone that old made such a poor decision and jeopardized so many people, it’s hard to take in.”

According to Canada’s Ministry of Transportation, some of the penalties faced by drivers convicted of impaired driving include suspension of their driver’s license from one year to a lifetime, a jail term and $150 fine. — Xianne Arcangel/KBK/HS, GMA News