A petition addressed to the President and signed by 26 of the alleged victims also reported four more SUA incidents last February alone.
This, even as the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) said it is now supporting the cases filed by the SUA victims before the Ombudsman and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
“VACC will adopt the complaints already pending before the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) against Mitsubishi,” said VACC President Dante Jimenez in a message relayed to the Capampangans in Media, Inc. in a forum here.
The petition also bewailed the “inaction” of DTI on the SUA complaints.
The petition, dated last Feb. 16, asked the President to order the halt of selling Montero Sports until the cause of SUA has been determined and removed, the issuance of warning to the public of the dangers from the vehicle, and the penalizing of officials and others who have issued statements denying the existence of SUA.
Lawyer Charlie Tamaru, himself a victim of SUA of his 2012 model Montero on July 25 last year, said no less than 26 victims intend to withdraw the case they filed before the DTI and opt instead for a criminal case before a court.
Bernardino Bernardo, 63, who was the first to expose the SUA issue after his wife was injured in such incident on Nov. 10 last year, bared two alleged virtual bribe attempts for him to drop the case.
He noted that despite the recommendation of the House Committee on Trade and Industry to stop the sale of Montero and its pull out of the model from the market, the DTI has totally ignored the recommendation.
Tamaru and Bernardo said that amid the apparent partiality of the DTI in favor of Mitsubishi and its ignoring the House recommendation, their group is now on a crusade to warn the public on the dangers posed by the vehicle’s SUA.
Their letter to the President identified the SUA victims last February as Peggy Arroyo in a Montero owned by an official of the Capiz government, victimizing eight persons who were hospitalized; retired Gen. Buenaventura Tabo whose vehicle hit three other cars; Johnny Suy Ko who had initially dismissed the SUA theory but became himself a victim after his Montero hit several vehicles before hitting a concrete wall; and Gines Artates whose Montero also sped towards other parked vehicles.
