Ex-cycling champ killed in road accident in Pangasinan

Former Marlboro Tour champion Romeo Bonzo, the first rookie winner of the Marlboro Tour in 1983, was killed in a vehicular accident Thursday morning in his hometown of Sual in Pangasinan. According to Philippine Cycling Association (PhilCycling), Bonzo, 49, left behind wife Clarita Sison Bonzo of Labrador town and five children, including the promising junior rider Mark Julius. Bonzo's brother Modesto, the 1976 Tour champion, said that Bonzo was struck while riding his motorcycle by a Mistubishi Delica van on the Sual national highway. The sixth in a brood of eight, Romeo Bonzo enlisted in the Philippine Army. He wnet into optional retirement with a rank of technical sergeant. While with the Army, Bonzo also occasionally donned the national colors in cycling events. Bonzo's youngest brother Noel also rode in the 1994 Marlboro Tour. Bonzo is the third former Marlboro Tour champion to die in a vehicular accident. In the mid-1980s, Jacinto Sicam was killed also while riding his motorcycle in his hometown of Binalonan, Pangasinan. In the mid-1990s, Manuel Buenaventura, the 1990 winner, died after being sideswiped a bus at the EDSA-Aurora Boulevard underpass in Cubao, Quezon City. - GMANews.TV