‘Last trip’ for Bus 71

Edward Balisnomo, 32-year-old driver of Golden Hi-way Bus No. 71, had just shifted to third gear — gunning the motor to 60 kilometers per hour — when he heard a deafening explosion from the back of the bus.

"I thought it was my engine," he said. "Then I felt a powerful gust of air ram me from behind, pressing me against the steering wheel."

His conductor, Virgilio Quising, 35, was standing on the lower rung of the steps of the bus’ front entrance, leaning against its folded door. His mind was preoccupied with getting more passengers – when the bomb went off.

Quising, father of three and just six months on the job, nearly lost his balance. But the folded door shielded him from much of the shockwave.

Instinctively, Balisnomo stepped on the brakes, bringing the bus to a screeching and shaky halt in front of liquor maker Distilleria Limtuaco in Quezon City’s Balintawak district.

He and his assistant looked back and saw a horrifying sight they thought they would never see in their life.

Cries for help from bloodied passengers rang through a thick haze of black smoke that quickly enveloped the bus, which turned into a mass of crazily twisted metal, shattered wood and torn upholstery. Part of the roof was ripped off.

A sudden fear gripped Balisnomo and he scrambled off the bus.

A wave of panicky passengers shoved Quising out the door and onto the pavement. He picked himself up and only then did he hear moans and cries for help.

He said he rushed back aboard the shattered bus and helped a man pinned to the floor on his stomach by a heavy twisted piece of metal on his back.

"He was crying for help" said the bus conductor in Filipino. "I heard so much crying and groaning. It was awful."

But his driver couldn’t take it anymore. Balisnomo said he found himself sitting on the shoulder of the road, too shaken and weak to move. And too frightened by the experience to do anything.

"It wasn’t like any accident we’ve had before," he said, recalling an incident two years ago when a dump truck collided with the same bus one night at the intersection of EDSA and Boni Avenue in Mandaluyong City.

"I survived that one and I’m thankful I survived this one, too," he said. Both he and Quising survived with only a few minor scratches and temporary deafness.

A fateful last trip

Balisnomo and Quising, both from Bicol, were looking forward to finally calling it a day after long hours on the arduous Alabang-Novaliches route.

The trip was supposed to be their last for the day. They were right.

The fateful trip began in Alabang, Muntinlupa at around 8 p.m. They made their scheduled stops, heading north. They had about 20 passengers when they reached Camp Crame, the national police headquarters, in Quezon City.

They picked up two men when they reached the MRT Quezon Avenue station and five more passengers at the intersection.

About four passengers got off at SM City mall at the corner of North Avenue and 15 others got on.

Ten got off at Muñoz market and five got aboard. They had about 32 passengers as they approached the Royale building. Balisnomo and Quising said a fair-complexioned woman clad in an orange shirt and jeans disembarked at Royale.

They were stalled for a few minutes by a truck in front, whose driver was signaling them to back off because he was moving to another lane.

Finally, a few meters after the building, a few minutes after the clock struck 10 p.m., the bomb went off.

Both men said they had no idea who planted the explosive. "At that time, I was only thinking about getting more passengers to wind up the trip," Quising said. "What else was I supposed to think about?"

Balisnomo said he was focused on his driving. He remembered keeping a tight grip on the steering wheel. "I think it was a good thing that I had a sure grip on the wheel or I would have been thrown out of my seat by the explosion."

Both tried to remember every detail of their last trip but said there was no telling who was responsible.

"What are we supposed to do, suspect every passenger we pick up?" asked Balisnomo. "No, we don’t think about that when we start a trip."

They were thankful that traffic was light; shrapnel could have wounded or killed more people. "Many more would have died if another vehicle was following us," Balisnomo said. "It could have well ran smuck into us after the explosion."

Only three people were seated on the six-seat bench at the back of the bus, while the rest were seated in the middle and up front.

A man and a woman were seated close to each other near the back. "I am not sure if they were sweethearts or husband and wife," Quising said. A man was seated an arm’s length away from the couple.

What police told them later was puzzling – two bodies of two people were found in the back.

"We initially thought there were three but when scene-of-the-crime operatives came, they found that there were only two people because one of the victims was cut in half by the force of the explosion," Senior Superintendent Napoleon Castro, Central Police District chief, said.

The bus driver and conductor were sure, however, that there were three.