Suspension up for other buses

CEBU, Philippines - The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) will issue a one month suspension order today of the franchises of the four other buses owned by Dulce Gantuangco, owner of the bus that figured a road accident in Toledo City last Saturday killing 15 of its passengers.

LTFRB-7 regional director Benjamin Go said Gantuangco will be required to subject her buses to a road worthiness test at the Motor Vehicle Inspection Center of the Land Transportation Office in Subangdaku, Mandaue City.

Gantuangco’s legal counsel Edmund Villanueva has assured that they will immediately comply with the order of the LTFRB.

He also assured that Gantuangco will shoulder all the hospital expenses of the injured passengers confined at four separate hospitals like in South General Hospital in Naga City; Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center; Sacred Heart Hospital and Visayas Community Hospital.

“Gani kadtong ubang injured passengers nga mipauli na among gipadad-an pa sa gikinahanglan nilang mga tambal ug gihatagan og financial assistance base sa degree sa mga samad nga ilang naangkon,” Villanueva said.

Villanueva further said that the relatives of those casualties will also receive cash assistance up to P60,000 as what is stipulated in the vehicle’s insurance.

As of yesterday all of the bodies of the fatalities have been transferred already to their respective homes after the representatives of the bus owner helped their relatives to facilitate the required documents.

The bus driven by Diosdado Requizo was bound for Tuburan via Toledo City when its brake system malfunctioned prompting the driver to ram the vehicle into a post to avoid hitting people along the road.

Although the bus with plate numbers GVG-145 is registered under Gantuangco’s name, but earlier media reports mentioned that it is owned by the Corominas Brothers.

Villanueva explained that Gantuangco is the mother of former Cebu Provincial Board Member Maria Victoria Corominas and her buses carry the name of the popular bus company.

It was earlier reported that the vehicle’s franchise had already expired, but Villanueva clarified that such report is not true because the franchise will expire on July 21, 2014 yet.

Drivers’ Compensation

According to Go, the LTFRB will review the compensation scheme for bus drivers in Cebu because he believes that most of the accidents are caused by the way drivers are compensated.

“They overload their buses because they earn per head commission, they drive very fast so that they can make more round trips, thus ferrying more passengers which leads to more earning, they race against each other on the road and fighting over passengers,” the LTFRB regional director said.

Go further said that he will also review the working hours of the bus drivers, whether are they given enough rest between trips to avoid over fatigue.

But Go has observed that most drivers who were involved in road accidents just get away without having to go to jail, because the relatives of victims are no longer interested of pursuing criminal cases against them for various reasons.

“We are consulting our lawyers whether the LTFRB can act as complainant so as to ensure that criminal cases will push through and to make sure these reckless drivers will serve jail terms,” he added.

‘Overloaded’

Senior Inspector Jovito Canlapan of the Toledo City Police confirmed that the bus was overloaded when it lost its brakes and hit a concrete wall along the road while negotiating a blind curve in Lutopan, Toledo City last Saturday.

Canlapan said that around 10:30 a.m. yesterday the bus was pulled out and brought to the garage of Corominas Brother Bus Lines along C. Padilla St., Cebu City.

He furthered said that they will file the case tomorrow if they can complete all the papers.

According to Canlapan he estimated that the capacity of the bus was only 60 passngers, but during the accident there were at last 80 as 15 died and 65 were wounded.

 Diosdado Requiso, 48, of barangay Libo, Tuburan, the driver of the bus, is still detained in Toledo City.

He told The Freeman that one option that he thought he would take was going for a drainage ditch on the left side of the road, but changed his mind when he saw three dump trucks heading the opposite direction.

Requiso will be facing charges of reckless imprudence resulting to multiple homicide, reckless imprudence resulting multiple to physical injuries and damage to property, Canlapan said.

Fatalities

The fatalities were identified as Alfredo Pasillas, 55, of Asinan Bato, Toledo City; Flordeliz Benting, 37, of Mohon, Colonia, Tuburan; her son and her adopted child Cyril Benting, 10, and Sian Vincent Bazarte, 5; Maximo Agsoy, 55, of Caridad Tuburan.

Romela Cabañero, 51, of Cantuod, Balamban; Mary Jane Capacite, 20, of barangay Gen. Climaco, Toledo; Teofila Coligado, 49, of Jagbuaya, Tuburan; Jose Bueno, 61, of Guinabasan, Asturias; Norberto Tejano, 40, of Soong, Lapu-Lapu; couple Adonis, 73, and Evelyn Garbansos, 65, of barangay Tisa, Labangon, Cebu City; and Junave Vega, 22, of Media Onse, Toledo.

The bodies were brought to Saint Francis Funeral Homes in barangay Poblacion, Toledo City.

PO3 Julius Sanchez, investigator of the incident said yesterday that they have listed 65 people injured after checking various hospitals. – with reports from Brenda Batuto of Banat News/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)