BONTOC, Mountain Province — The province is mourning the death of former Sagada mayor James Pooten II, his wife and two other relatives who were killed in a vehicular accident while on vacation in Alberta, Canada, on Friday.

According to a report, the former mayor, his wife Cymbeline Joan, cousin Arlene Guzman-Padalla and her son Jacob were aboard a sports utility vehicle (SUV) when it collided head on with a semi-truck hauling a grain trailer.

All four passengers of the SUV were declared dead on the spot.

Pooten and his wife flew to Canada on July 18 for a vacation.

Rep. Maximo Dalog Jr. said that he was surprised to learn about the tragic news and said that he joined the people of the province in mourning.

"I was shocked to learn about the unfortunate incident involving former mayor Pooten, his wife and their relatives. We pray for them and their families that they will be able to recover from the tragic incident in due time," Dalog said.

Gov. Bonifacio Lacwasan Jr., on the other hand, expressed his deepest sympathy and condolences to the Pooten and Padalla families, saying that the people of Mountain Province are in grief.

"We are deeply saddened about what happened. Our province lost a good local chief executive in the person of former Mayor Pooten in a tragic incident in the foreign land," Lacwasan said.

Sagada Mayor Felicito Dula Jr., meanwhile, expressed his sympathy and condolences to the bereaved families of the fatalities, saying that it is unfortunate that a good and well-respected leader of the municipality, who spent a significant part of his life in public service, succumbed to the traffic incident.

"The people of Sagada will surely remember former Mayor Pooten for his unwavering and uncompromising services, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic," said Dula, who foiled Pooten's reelection bid during the 2022 elections.

He served two terms as mayor of Sagada from 2016 to 2022. His wife Cymbeline was a retired nurse from St. Luke's Hospital in Quezon City. The Pooten couple is survived by their two children, Manuel James III, who resides in Canada, and Jamie Ann, a nurse in North Carolina.

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