LTFRB suspends bus firm in EDSA mishap

MANILA, Philippines - The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has issued a preventive suspension order on all 18 MGP Trans buses after one of its buses figured in an accident that left five people dead and more than 30 passengers injured in November 2013.

LTFRB chairman Winston Ginez said the MGP bus rear-ended by an Elena Bus at the EDSA-Magallanes bus loading bay was a phased out 1991 model and should not have been plying the roads.

Ginez said MGP Trans committed a serious violation of its certificate for public conveyance (CPC) permit and faces cancellation or revocation of its bus franchise.

A public hearing was set on Jan. 21 to provide MGP Trans a legal venue to show cause why its CPCs should not be suspended, cancelled, and revoked for its refusal to comply with the order of LTFRB in so far as phased-out units are concerned. 

Records from the Philippine Accident Managers Inc., the management company of one of the accredited insurance groups under the board’s passenger accident program, showed that the unit was last insured in 2012. 

Its passenger accident liability insurance coverage was not renewed by the bus company in 2013.

“This is a clear violation of our anti-colorum campaign, we will make sure that MGP Trans is meted the penalty as prescribed by the board and the government,” Ginez added.

The board will send a team to confiscate the licenses of all 18 buses at the MGP Trans garage on Jan. 11, he said.