LTFRB suspends buses of firm in deadly SCTEx mishap
SCTEx personnel and kibitzers look at the wreckage of the passenger bus that reportedly rear-ended a cargo truck along the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) in Concepcion, Tarlac, on Thursday morning. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has served a 30-day preventive suspension order on Jumbo Transport Inc. following an accident that left five people dead in Tarlac.
The order was issued after one of the buses of Jumbo Transport collided with a truck along Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) in Concepcion, Tarlac, last Thursday.
The accident left five people dead and 49 injured.
The LTFRB order stops the bus company from operating 10 of its buses with the route Las Piñas City to any point in Luzon and vice versa.
Affected are buses with plate numbers BEK 523, TYY 357, TYY 285, TYY 257, TYY 266, TYY 717, TYY 727, and TXS 774.
Buses with numbers KN2GBB7211K101476 and KN2GBB721YK000348 are also banned from plying.
In the order, the LTFRB directed Jumbo Transport to surrender the license plates of the buses to the agency.
“Respondent-operator is hereby directed to surrender the for hire plates of the aforesaid ten (10) tourist buses to the Legal Division of this board on Monday, 11 February 2019 between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.,” the order stated.
A show cause order was also issued against the bus company in order for them to explain why the board should not suspend or revoke its franchise.
Jumbo Transport has 72 hours upon receipt of the suspension order to submit their explanation to the board.
A representative of the bus company and the driver involved in the accident were also told to attend a hearing of the case set on February 12.
“Failure on the part of the respondent-operator and its driver involved in the accident to appear before this Board on the date mentioned above shall be considered as waiver on their part to be heard and this case shall be decided on the basis of the records of the board,” the order said. /cbb
