SUV owner given 'final notice' to attend LTO hearing on Mandaluyong hit-and-run incident

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) has set the final hearing on the hit-and-run incident in Mandaluyong City on Friday, June 10, its chief, Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante, said on Wednesday.

After skipping Tuesday's hearing, the owner of the SUV involved in the incident was given a "final notice" to attend the proceedings, Galvante told Dobol B TV.

“Nakasaad doon na binibigyan siya ng huling notice na ini-expect siya na dumalo sa LTO sa Biyernes ng ala-una. Again, yun ang final notice sa kanya,” Galvante said.

(It is stated there that he is given a final notice that we are expecting him to attend the hearing by the LTO on Friday at 1 p.m. Again, that is the final notice for him.)

If the SUV owner again failed to show up, Galvante said the chance for him to explain the incident will be considered waived.

The LTO will come up with a decision on the sanction that will be imposed against the SUV owner based on evidence even without his cooperation, according to Galvante.

The SUV owner may face suspension or revocation of driver's license over the incident. As a preventive action, the suspect's driver's license has already been suspended for 90 days.

Galvante said authorities assume that the registered owner of the concerned vehicle is also the driver in the hit-and-run incident. The SUV owner reportedly claimed that it was their child who was driving the vehicle during the incident.

According to Galvante, the show cause order against the SUV owner included instruction to bring to the hearing the driver of the vehicle during the incident if that was the case.

Raps vs. guards

Meanwhile, Mandaluyong Police deputy chief Police Lieutenant Colonel Marlon Mallorca said they are preparing to file obstruction of justice complaint against the guards in the Quezon City subdivision where the suspect resides.

This was after the guards prevented the police from going to the suspect's home.

“Bale pinag-aaralan nga po namin na isampa po yung kaso sa kanila, obstruction [of justice]. Actually ginawa na namin ang mga papeles. So far, ipa-file na po namin yun,” he said in a separate interview on Dobol B TV.

(So we are studying to file a complaint against the guards for obstruction of justice. Actually, we are already done with the papers. So far, we are set to file them.)

Mandaluyong City Police chief Police Colonel Gauvin Mel Unos on Tuesday said a complaint for frustrated murder and abandonment of one's own victim has already been filed against the SUV owner.

On Sunday, the said SUV hit a security guard who was directing traffic at the corner of Julia Vargas Avenue and St. Francis Street in Mandaluyong City.

The guard, identified as Christian Joseph Floralde, was trying to stop the SUV at an intersection. In a dashcam footage, he was seen stopping a white SUV but was instead hit by the vehicle.

Instead of helping the fallen victim, the SUV driver ran over him and escaped.

Floralde is currently in the intensive care unit of a hospital for medical treatment. —KBK, GMA News