2 Quran readers perish in Pikit highway accident

COTABATO CITY --- Two male Islamic theology students on their way home from a Ramadhan Quran reading activity died instantly when their motorcycle hit the rear of an idle dump truck in Barangay Takepan in Pikit, North Cotabato at almost midnight Thursday. 

In separate initial reports released on Friday morning, the Pikit Municipal Police Station and local government officials identified the fatalities as Alino Asim and Tato Compania, both ethnic Maguindanaons and students of a Madrasah, or Islamic school, in the municipality.

Asim and Compania were riding a motorcycle together, on their way home to Barangay Panicupan from the nighttime community Quran reading event in the town proper of Pikit, when they collided with the dump truck parked along an unlit stretch of a highway in Barangay Takepan.

Barangay officials and police investigators said the dump truck does not have reflector stickers on its rear.

The religious activity that Asim and Compania attended was organized by Pikit Mayor Sumulong Sultan as part of their observance of the Ramadhan,  a holy month in Islam, which started on March 12.

During Ramadhan, physically-fit Muslims fast from dawn to dusk for one lunar cycle, about 29-30 days, based on the Hijrah calendar, as a religious obligation and to instill among them the importance of self-restraint to achieve spiritual perfection. 

The mayor of Pikit had assured to provide the Asim and Compania families with essential support needed for the traditional Islamic rites for the duo's demise.