By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

A veteran police officer of the Police Regional Office-18 (PRO-18), said to be retiring this year, died in a road accident in Barangay Crossing-Pulupandan, Pulupandan, Negros Occidental, Thursday morning.
Police identified the fatality as 55-year-old Senior Police Officer 2 (SPO2) Graciano Pineda, a member of the PRO-18 regional headquarters support group.
Pulupandan police chief, Police Senior Inspector Alfred De Leon, said the victim was traveling south on his motorcycle when a pickup truck, driven by priest, Father Juanco Omaño, bumped the victim’s motorcycle as he tried to overtake him.
Pineda lost control of his motorcycle and slammed his head on the pavement, killing him instantly.
Omaño, a parish priest of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente of San Enrique town, later surrendered to police.
In a TV interview following his surrender, he claimed he had already overtaken Pineda when the motorcycle hit the rear end of his vehicle.
Pulupandan police are awaiting a decision from Pineda’s next of kin if they are going to file criminal charges against Omaño./WDJ