Would you still want to hate to follow rules? Well, it's time to think about the tragic loss of Kingston Ralph Ko Cheng, who lost his life because someone in the road didn't want to follow simple guidelines. It was two days ago when, suddenly, Kington's life was taken away from him. It was difficult for me to process what happened. I would like to share my thoughts of this reckless incident of what happens when laws are ignored. Either you become the victim (for not following rules) or you end up someone who follows rules (like what happened to Kingston).
Here's something I found on Facebook:
The Price of Paper Laws
Kingston Ralph Ko Cheng was 23. A Monash university graduate, a talented musician, and a café owner, he moved back to Cebu to build a life. That life ended on a pedestrian crossing near his home.
A speeding Toyota Innova hit him with such force it threw his body into a utility pole. The driver, 21-year-old Sean Andrew Pajarillo, had already hit a parked car before that and fled the scene. After hitting Kingston, he didn’t stop then, either.
CCTV footage from earlier that night shows Pajarillo at a club—stumbling, falling, and being helped to his car. At the scene, investigators smelled alcohol on his breath. Yet, he tested negative.
He tested negative because the test didn’t happen until 19 hours later.
This is what a Masterclass in Failure looks like.
The timeline from the police press conference is a map of systemic negligence. At his father’s request, Pajarillo was taken to a private hospital where police were kept outside. When they finally got clearance to test him, there was no breathalyzer at the hospital. There wasn’t one at the Cebu City Medical Center, either.
By the time a test was administered, the evidence had metabolized. The police know this. The mayor admitted the equipment simply didn’t exist.
A $100 device at the scene could have settled the truth in 60 seconds; instead, a family is grieving because of thirteen years of incompetence.
This is bigger than one tragedy. It is the dereliction of duty. Republic Act 10586—the Anti-Drunk and Drugged Driving Act—became law in 2013. I know, because I was part of that push. I launched the country’s first “Driver on Call” service in 2012, precisely because we didn’t have a dedicated law against drunk driving. And when the law finally arrived, I celebrated, but warned through multiple articles and tv interviews that without deployed breathalyzers and strict protocols, this law would be a ghost.
Thirteen years later, it still is.
Section 9 required the LTO and PNP to deploy breathalyzers nationwide by October 2013. The law mandated penalty reviews in 2018 and 2023; there is no record of either. Even more disturbing is, in over a decade, I cannot find evidence of a single standalone DUI conviction. Drivers who kill while intoxicated are still charged under the 1930s Revised Penal Code—the same charge they would have faced forty years ago.
Even if justice is served and the driver ends up behind bars, who else needs to answer for Kingston?
The LTO and PNP failed their mandate to equip. The DOTr, DOH, and NAPOLCOM failed to oversee the rules they co-authored. Congress failed to check if the law they passed was ever actually born.
Kingston did everything right. He was in the crosswalk. He was almost home. He died because a law meant to protect him exists only on paper.
We, the public, hereby demand a full congressional audit of RA 10586. We demand mandatory, on-scene breathalyzer deployment for every crash involving injury. We demand accountability for every official who sat on their hands while the body count rose.
Enough.
#JusticeForKingston #RA10586 #EnforceTheLaw #DrunkDrivingKills #RoadSafetyPH
Below are some photos I found on Reddit (credit to the owners who posted them) showing that the suspect, Sean Andrew Pajarillo, was indeed intoxicated. This is a real clear problem when people don't want to follow simple guidelines. If in doubt, feel free to have these photos I found to be examined and don't be like the late Martin Ocampo (who handled the Chiong Sisters Case) and retired Judge Amelita Tolentino.
I even saw a video on Facebook giving evidence that the suspect, Sean Andrew, was indeed drunk. Whoever took these shots must've had a strong stomach. Right now, I'll say that I'm not a criminologist but just another citizen voicing his views. I could really look into this right now based on what I read from Cebu Daily News. There was indeed a terrible lapse of judgment that forced me to study some basic medical science:
Immediate request, prolonged process
Los Baños stressed that police acted without delay.“Pag kadlawn pa [nag-request og liquor test], right after atong napanimahoan sa responding officer and ni-report siya sa TEU nga nanimahong alak,” he said.([Police requested a liquor test] when it was still early morning, right after the responding officer smelled and reported to the TEU that there was a smell of liquor from the driver.)Emergency Medical Services transported him to a private hospital in Mandaue at around 1:50 a.m.However, once Pajarillo was admitted to the emergency room, police could no longer intervene in medical procedures.Hospital protocols required the request to conduct a liquor test to pass through internal legal channels and to secure the patient’s consent before any testing could be done.It was only around 4 p.m.—more than 14 hours after the crash—that hospital doctors explained the testing request to Pajarillo and obtained his consent. A drug test was conducted at about 5:30 p.m.Because liquor testing was unavailable at the private hospital, police had to wait for an ambulance to transfer the suspect to Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC).After roughly an hour and 30 minutes waiting for an available ambulance, the transfer proceeded at about 7:15 p.m. A liquor sobriety test was finally conducted at 7:55 p.m., yielding a negative result.Police acknowledged that the extended delay might have affected the test outcome.
Limits of police authority
Los Baños said public frustration over the timeline was understandable but emphasized that police authority was limited once a suspect was confined in a medical facility.“Sa part sa PNP, naa’y limitations sa amoang trabaho. So the moment nga naa sa hospital, naa sila’y medical procedure, dili na ta pwede manghilabot ana. So mao to’y naka-cause og langan,” he said.(On the part of the PNP, our work has limitations. So the moment he is in the hospital, they have a medical procedure, we can no longer interfere with that. So that was the one that caused a delay.)He clarified that while officers smelled alcohol, that alone could not establish intoxication. Standard operating procedure requires formal testing, which must follow hospital rules and require consent.“Nakasimhot sila and SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) gihapon na but di ta maka-determine nga hubog gyud siya. Manimaho siya or dili, considering nga vehicular accident, automatically, undergo gyud ta og mga ingon ana nga tests,” Los Baños added.(They smelled alcohold and that is still SOP (Standard Operating Procedure), but we cannot determine that he was drunk. He may smell alcohol or not, considering that it’s a vehicular accident, automatillay, that should have been to undergo to the tests.)Police also said Pajarillo was unable to give a statement immediately after the crash due to his injuries.
Which makes you wonder, was there a cover-up in the hospital? However, the American Addiction Corners gives this information on how long alcohol can stay in the system, and what could be done on Sean Andrew to get the result:
Blood Up to 12 hoursBreath 12-24 hoursUrine 12-24 hours; 72 hours or more after heavier useSaliva Up to 12 hoursHair Up to 90 days
As of right now, this gives me another extra layer to be mad. I'm not related to the victim. However, drying in Cebu City makes me go nuts with people who just refuse to follow simple guidelines. It even turned out that Sean Andrew didn't follow guidelines based on this information from the Cebu Daily News:
Responding officers from the Traffic Enforcement Unit (TEU) apprehended Pajarillo shortly after 1 a.m. During the arrest, officers noted the smell of alcohol on the suspect and reported that he failed to present a valid driver’s license and vehicle registration documents.
Simple guidelines. Don't drive drunk. Don't drive your car without a registration and a license. All tahtw as ignored and it resulted to the death of a 23-year-old man!
Condolence to the loved ones of Kingston. I pray you will find justice!