4 dead, 18 hurt in Quezon City bus mishap

MANILA, Philippines - Four people died while 18 others were injured when a bus crashed into a boundary marker along Quirino Highway in Quezon City yesterday morning.

Eduardo Remorin Agabon and an unidentified woman died at the scene after reportedly falling from the bus while Alberto Golpio and Arcenio Jacaba died at the Tala Hospital in Caloocan City a few hours after the accident, said Senior Inspector Marlon Meman, chief of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Traffic Sector 2. 

He said that the accident happened at around 7:20 a.m. when the Valisno Transit bus (TXV-715) driven by George Pacis smashed into the concrete marker at the boundary of Caloocan City and Quezon City. 

According to data from the Land Transportation Office (LTO), the Valisno bus involved in the accident is registered to Rosalinda Manabat Valisno of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.

Seeking advice

Pacis, 34, reportedly abandoned the area and went to his father’s residence in Balagtas, Bulacan while his conductor, Ferdinand Dacusan, was among the injured who were rushed to Tala Hospital.  

He was arrested at around 4 p.m. in Balagtas yesterday. Meman said Pacis did not resist arrest as his father and brother urged him to surrender.

Pacis said he did not plan to escape, but wanted to seek advice from his father and be treated at a hospital there. He suffered minor bruises on his right arm, knee and buttocks.

He said no one helped him and people around him were just laughing and taking photos of him when he was in the wrecked part of the bus.

Pacis asked forgiveness from the families of the victims.

“I did my best to save them. I did not mean for this to happen. I apologize to all the victims of the accident,” he said in Filipino.

Pacis, a former Don Mariano Bus Transit driver, denied allegations he was driving recklessly.

Don Mariano’s franchise was cancelled in January 2014, a month after one of its buses fell off the Skyway onto the road below, killing 21 persons.

Pacis started working at Valisno Transit less than a year ago. He had been working since 9 p.m. Tuesday, based on records of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

Distracted?

One of the survivors, Gerardo Borero, also a bus driver, said the incident started when  Pacis started chatting with a fellow Valisno Transit employee who rode on the bus.

Pacis apparently lost control of the wheel as he was talking with his colleague.

Borero said Pacis had been driving fast, overtaking a passenger jeep and cutting in front of another bus before hitting the boundary marker. 

Meman said Pacis came from Fairview heading toward Tungko, Bulacan when he lost control.

QCPD Traffic Enforcement Unit head Superintendent Ely Pintang said the driver will be charged with reckless driving resulting in damage to property with multiple homicide and multiple physical injuries and violating Article 275 of the Revised Penal Code (abandoning a person in danger or one’s own victim).

Meanwhile, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) suspended 62 buses of Valisno Transit after the incident.

In a text message, LTFRB Chairman Winston Ginez said a 30-day preventive suspension on Valisno Transit’s entire fleet will take effect upon receipt of the order.  

The LTFRB will confiscate the buses’ license plates while the LTO will test the vehicles for roadworthiness.

Ginez said all Valisno Transit’s drivers will be required to undergo a road safety seminar and a drug test as well as secure police and National Bureau of Investigation clearances.