Bus accident leaves teacher comatose; kin asks for help

Catalina Alinduza, who was among those seriously injured during a bus crash the other week, marked her 57th birthday in a comatose state at a hospital on Monday, unaware of what was going on around her.

Although doctors at Makati Medical Center have declared Alinduza brain dead, her daughter Bennette was adamant on celebrating her mother’s birthday, complete with balloons, a cake and birthday cards from her friends.

“We are fervently praying for a miracle,” Bennette told the Inquirer.

Alinduza, known as Cathy to her friends and Mrs. A to her nursing students at AMA College in Makati City, was thrown off the Elena Liner bus as it plowed through a group of commuters at a loading bay in Makati City on Nov. 14. The accident killed five people and injured 34 others.

“The doctors have said that there will be a slim or no chance of recovery. If there will be a miracle, she will be in a vegetative state,” Bennette, a freelance writer residing in Mandaluyong, said.

Despite her mother’s condition, Bennette said she did not harbor any ill will toward the bus company. She has an appeal though: that it shoulder her mother’s hospital bill, which has so far reached P740,000 for four days of confinement at the MMC intensive care unit.

Case investigator SPO1 Rommel Salvador said that relatives of the other victims in the accident have been asking him for help in running after the bus company, which earlier offered to shoulder their medical expenses.

“I told them that if the bus company was not keen on helping them, I could help them in filing civil cases against the company,” Salvador said.

Alinduza was initially admitted at the hospital as an unidentified patient. It took two days for her daughter to find her.

“She did not go home that Thursday night and I was worried sick. I could not sleep. Then I learned about the accident in the news. Reports said there were test papers scattered at the site of the accident in Makati,” she said.

The Inquirer tried to reach Elena Liner for comment but calls and text messages sent to the cell phone of the designated liaison officer went unanswered on Monday.