By Edwin Fernandez/PNA
ALEOSAN, North Cotabato — Hundreds of cases of beers fell off from a hauler truck Wednesday and a portion of the Cotabato-Davao highway here was flooded with broken bottles and the brew.
“Nasubukan mo na bang lumangoy sa dagat ng beer? (Have you tried swimming in a sea of beer?” North Cotabato Vice Governor Shirlyn Macasarte Villanueva said of the 4 p.m. mishap.
“We cannot pass through, it’s better that we start drinking beers here,” she said in jest in her Facebook page.
Villanueva was traveling to Midsayap town from Kidapawan City when she noticed stranded vehicles and people milling around a cargo truck. She then took photos of the incident.
Ernie Saban, a local resident, said he saw the cargo truck heading to Cotabato City from Davao City and while negotiating a downward curve in Barangay Bagolibas, Aleosan, the cases of beers fell.
“The bottles were broken causing a halt to traffic flow,” he told newsmen in an interview. “We tried to salvage unbroken bottles but were prevented by police,” Saban added, though admitting that several villagers managed to take home some cases of beer.
Initial police investigation showed that a piece of rope strapped around the cargo hold of the open back hauler truck snapped, causing the cases of beer to fall successively on the pavement.
Traffic was reopened an hour later after volunteers cleared the highway of broken bottles.
