2 dead, 20 injured in Bukidnon road accident

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Misamis Oriental, Philippines – Two women died and at least 20 passengers were hurt when the bus they were riding skidded and fell on its side along a slippery road in Impasugong town, Bukidnon, Saturday afternoon, police reported on Sunday.

The passenger bus, which is operated by Rural Transit Mindanao Inc. (RTMI), was on its way to Cagayan de Oro. The accident happened on the national highway in Sitio Bagong Silang, Barangay Impalutao, Impasugong, at 2:15 p.m. Saturday.

The report said the airconditioned bus, with 36 passengers on board, was traveling on the inner lane of the highway on rainy weather, when another vehicle, a white van, made a sudden stop ahead.

As the van ground to a halt, the bus driver, Leomerne Velarde, 41, stepped on the brake and veered toward the road’s outer lane to avoid a collision.

But Velarde lost control of the bus as it turned on its side, resulting in the death of two its passengers, the report said.

Police identified the casualties as Marisol Marinay, a 23-year-old a teacher from Barangay Kawayan, Impasugong town, and Mary Joy Tubay, a 20-year-old student from Malaybalay City.

In an exclusive interview Sunday evening, Jessie Boy Lentorio, RTMI branch manager, said the bus company had shouldered the medical bills of those admitted to the hospitals and extended financial aid to the families of those who died.

Out of the 20 who were hospitalized, only two remained in the medical facilities to undergo further treatment.

Lentorio said the RTMI management gave P200,000 as initial cash compensation to the Marinay and Tubay families.

But he did not divulge the total amount that the aggrieved parties would be expected to get from the bus company.

“The RTMI is ready to help its passengers in accidents such as this,” he added.

In another interview, Jay Galindo, RTMI operations manager, said Velarde did his best in that situation, even if it was the van that overtook the bus moments before it stopped.

Galindo said the slippery road was also a factor in the accident since the bus was traveling at a slow speed.

“Based on our monitoring, that bus was traveling at 50 kilometers per hour,” Galindo said. He said it was the speed registered by the bus on the company’s real-time tracking of its fleet of passenger buses in Mindanao, using the global positioning system.

He said the part of the road where the bus skidded was a known accident-prone zone among motorists traversing the Sayre highway.

Due to the impact of the crash, the glass windows of the bus were shattered and threw Marinay and Tubay out of their seats. They died moments later.

Galindo said he and other managers from the RTMI went to visit those injured and the families of the dead.

/atm