Tragedy On Wheels | The Champions We Lost

Jacinto Sicam was the first of three Marlboro Tour champions to tragically lose their lives in traffic accidents.

According to news reports from the era, Jacinto Sicam—the renowned first back-to-back Marlboro Tour titlist (1981 and 1982)—and his teammate Alfredo ‘Bobot’ dela Cruz were involved in a freak motorcycle accident one evening in the mid-80s in Binalonan, Pangasinan, while en route to their hometown of San Manuel. Despite the severity of the crash, dela Cruz managed to survive.

Meanwhile, in the mid-90s, Manuel “Daga” Buenaventura, the 1990 Marlboro Tour champion, figured in a similar fatal traffic accident when he was sideswiped by a bus along the EDSA-Aurora Boulevard underpass.

Over a decade later, in January 2007, Romeo Bonzo, the first Marlboro Tour rookie champion, was similarly struck by a Mitsubishi Delica in Sual, Pangasinan.

These tragedies prove that even the greatest champions are vulnerable to the dangers of the road—the harsh reality of the sport—serving a grim reminder that no one is spared.