28 passengers hurt in Naga City bus crash

After the crash, the bus driver just ran away.

He’s in deeper trouble now.

Police are looking for a certain “Marcial,” the passenger bus driver who abandoned his injured passengers after the vehicle collided with a dump truck and overturned in a ditch in barangay Maiinit, Naga, in south Cebu yesterday morning.

A total of 28 passengers were taken to the South General Hospital for various injuries.

The bus was going at a low speed but went faster when it reached a blind curve in barangay Maiinit, said Susana Seguisabal, a 43-year-old pasenger.

“Nalukot ang mga tawo. Nawa ang driver,” she said.

(The passengers were all twisted up. The driver just disappeared.)

PO2 Ken Cabrera, Naga police investigator, said the driver should surrender or else he would be held at fault and face criminal charges based on the initial investigation.

Based on initial findings, the Benet Calvo Transport bus encroached on the other lane when it was sideswiped by an oncoming dump truck around 8 a.m.

The bus overtook a dump truck as it reached a blind curve in barangay Mainit and hit a 10-wheeler dump truck heading to Cebu City. The impact caused the bus to overturn and land in a canal by the roadside.

When Cebu Daily News arrived at the site, looters were hanging around looking for belongings left by the passengers in the bus.

No barangay tanods or policemen are securing the site.

At the hospital, Petring Basillote, 72, waited outside the emergency room. In the commotion, he had left behind his brown knapsack with clothes in the bus.

His 1-year-old grandson, Kent “Entoy” Caballero, was the youngest survivor of the Naga road mishap.

Basillote himself was unharmed but he waited at the door because the boy and his mother, Basillote’s 30-year-old daughter Maria Lourdes Caballero, were being treated inside.

The mother had a bruise on her forehead. Kent cut his right cheek.

No major harm befell the boy, he said, because his mother tightly embraced him.

Basillote said he recalled the bus passengers shouting when the bus sideswiped the dump truck.

Analuna Canoneo, 21, was brought to the ER unconscious. Her mother Rosalina, who waited outside, said Analuna had a large bruise in the back of her head and had to undergo an X-ray.

PO2 Cabrera said police had difficulty contacting the bus firm owned by Jovita Calvo because the the listed contact numbers could not be reached.

Police invited the driver of the white 10-wheeler Fuso dump truck, Erenesto Baclaan, for questioning at the Naga City police station.

Baclaan said that he was driving at a low speed.

“First time jud ni nako nga grabe-grabe” (This is my first time to experience a severe vehicular accident.), Baclaan told Cebu Daily News.

Only the truck’s left side mirror was damaged.

Rescuers brought victims to the South General Hospital on board the Naga City ambulance and multicabs in the area.

A total of 28 were treated at the hospital for various injuries and were all declared out of danger.

Some needed confinement though. X-rays were ordered for those with head injuries. Two other passengers went to the city health office for a checkup.

Some were later transferred to the government-run Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City.

Authorities noticed that the bus’ plate number GWH 532 was different from the one recorded in its motor vehicle registration papers as GWH 1253.

Police will check this discrepancy with the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

The franchise record of the bus at the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) 7 indicated that its plate number should only be GWH 1253.

The bus identification was based on the chassis and engine numbers of the bus forwarded to LTFRB 7 by the Naga police.

LTFRB 7 Regional Director Ahmed Cuizon ordered the bus owner to submit an accident report within 72 hours and send agency representatives to the accident site.

Cuizon said the inquiry will determine if the bus company should face sanctions.

This is the second time a Calvo bus has been involved in an accident, said Land Transportation Office (LTO) 7 assistant regional director Arnel Tancinco.

He said the LTO will order the entire Calvo Trans fleet inspected for road worthiness after the police report is issued.

He said the police can also recommend the impoundment of the bus if the discrepancy in license plate numbers arises from fraudulent papers.