Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez. —photo from Facebook page
BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez has ordered an investigation into the road accident that killed a public school teacher from this city and injured 37 others, most of whom were also teachers, in Don Salvador Benedicto town in Negros Occidental on Friday.
The mayor said a thorough investigation to find the cause of the accident was needed “to ensure that [this will] not happen again.”
The passengers, mostly teachers of Paglaum Village Elementary School here returning to the city after a team-building activity in San Carlos City, were on board a bus owned by the city government when its brakes failed at a downhill section of the highway along Purok Talus, Barangay Igmaya-an, of the town and fell on its side.
The city government had provided assistance to victims under the Bacolod City Comprehensive Health Program, said Caesar Distrito, the mayor’s spokesperson.
READ: Teacher dies, 34 injured in Negros Occidental bus accident
Arlyn Tolosa Verde, 42, died in the accident when she hit a stone as the bus fell on its side, the town police reported.
39 on board
The bus had 39 persons on board, including the bus driver and his helper. Of the injured, 31 were teachers, said Police Staff Sgt. Benjie Bantilan, traffic investigator of the Don Salvador Benedicto police.
Bantilan, interviewed on Sunday, said most of those injured had been discharged from the hospital.
Still in the hospital were the bus helper, who had a dislocated shoulder and a teacher with a broken arm.
“Mayor Benitez was at the hospital Friday evening and assured that the city government would take care of the victims’ medical bills,” Bantilan said.
He said the driver was released from police custody since the maximum period for his detention without charges had lapsed.
The families of the victims have no plans to file charges against the driver since the mishap was considered “purely an accident,” according to Bantilan.
The group had reportedly gone to Sipaway Island in San Carlos City for a team-building activity and was returning to Bacolod when the accident happened, Bantilan said.