You may recall the viral hit-and-run incident that took place near SM Megamall in June 2022—it involved a traffic management personnel who was run over by an SUV. In the aftermath, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) revoked the driver’s license of SUV driver Jose Antonio Sanvicente, rendering him “perpetually disqualified from securing a driver’s license and driving a motor vehicle.”
Two days later, Sanvicente, accompanied by his parents and lawyer, held a press conference to apologize to hit-and-run victim Christian Floralde. He pleaded ‘not guilty’ to frustrated homicide charges in September 2022.
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Now, Floralde’s lawyer confirmed to ABS-CBN News that his client had settled the criminal case against Sanvicente, accepting the latter’s defense that the incident was “purely accidental.” The settlement amount was not disclosed.
“Nag-settle… And tinanggap naman dahil sabi nga eh, kahit dalawang taon siyang hindi magtrabaho bilang security guard, mas malaki pa yung naibigay yata sa kanya na financial assistance,” said Federico Biolena, Floralde’s co-counsel.
The charges have been dismissed by a Mandaluyong court after the settlement. “It was a necessary consequence…if there is no complainant, how can the case progress?” Biolena said. “And then yun na nga, tinatanggap naman ni Floralde yung depensa na talagang purely accidental, hindi sinasadya yung pagkasagasa sa kanya kung kaya’t pumayag na siya i-settle.
“Tsaka hindi naman, sa tingin ko, kasi may X-ray naman at that time, nakita ko naman na up and about siya.”
We asked our contributor and lawyer Carlo Chungunco how this would affect the revocation of Sanvicente’s license. “The criminal case is filed in court, so [the revocation] should be entirely independent of the criminal case since the LTO has sole adjudication over licenses,” he said.
In other words, the dismissal of the case doesn’t automatically reverse the LTO’s decision—that’s entirely up to the agency to decide.
