LTFRB-6 orders 30-day suspension

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board-Region 6 had ordered the 30-day suspension of 11 Ceres buses in Negros Occidental following the fatal crash last week, which killed four people and injured 46 others.

LTFRB-6 Director Romulo Bernardes confirmed Monday that he had issued the preventive suspension order on July 23, the day after the accident. Suspended were the 11 buses plying the Escalante-Bacolod and Victorias-Bacolod routes in Negros Occidental, two of these collided in EB Magalona town.

In the three-page suspension order, Bernardes said the drivers of the 11 buses were required to undergo road safety seminar to be conducted by the LTFRB Board and the Land Transportation Office, as well as compulsory drug testing by an accredited agency of the Department of Health and the LTO.

The order also asked Vallacar Transit Inc., owner of the Ceres buses, to submit the certificate of registration and latest LTO official receipt of the concerned buses and the names of the drivers, and to surrender all plate numbers of the 11 buses to the LTFRB-6 regional director.

Further, the order directed the bus company to show cause in writing within 72 hours upon receipt why it should not be penalized and to appear at the hearing of this case on August 3, 2015 at the LTFRB-6 office in Iloilo City.

Meanwhile, four people, including a tricycle driver, were injured after they figured in an accident involving another Ceres bus, the third crash in just a span of five days.

The first accident was in EB Magalona town, where four people died and 46 others were injured after two Ceres buses hit each other along the national highway at Barangay Sto. Niño.

The second accident claimed the life of a 7-year-old boy and injured his mother and 6-year-old sister after the speeding Ceres bus bumped them while crossing a school pedestrian lane at Barangay Mabini in Valladolid town.

The third accident was at Lacson Street of Bangga Ruins at Barangay Banago, Bacolod City, Sunday. According to Police Officer 2 Eliseo Andrameda, traffic investigator of Police Station 3, the victims were tricycle driver Jimmy Monterde, 31; tricycle owner Monico Managit; Jose Cortesano; and Romulo Oliveros, all of Barangay Mandalagan.

Police said that the tricycle and the Ceres bus, driven by Harry Bayoneta, 32, of Silay City, were going on the same direction — from north to south — when these collided at around 4:50 p.m.

Andrameda said the victims were rushed to the Our Lady of Mercy Hospital. The tricycle driver, who sustained injuries on his neck, is now under observation, while the bus driver is now detained at the Police Station 3, pending the filing of charges against him. Investigation of the incident was still going on, he added.