Bodies of passengers are covered in newspapers as they are laid down on the road after a passenger bus plunged from an elevated highway known as Skyway Monday, Dec. 16, 2013, in suburban Paranaque southeast of Manila, Philippines. Officials said at least 21 people died, mostly passengers, and more than 20 others were injured in the accident. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
The Tolentino family from Barangay (village) Pembo, Makati City, was the first to know a loved one was killed in a bus accident on Monday.
An anxious Mercy Tolentino, accompanied by her two sons, arrived on Monday noon at the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) suboffice in Bicutan.
Mercy asked the staff in the office if her husband, Rodel Tolentino, was among those involved in the highway accident in Parañaque City earlier that morning.
A southbound bus of Don Mariano Transit Corp. had fallen off the Skyway in Parañaque and crashed on the West Service Road in Barangay Marcelo Green below, killing 18 people and injuring 16 others.
Tolentino took the route daily to get to Ayala Alabang in Muntinlupa City, where he worked as a company driver, Mercy said.
She said that when she learned about the accident in the morning news, she tried to contact her husband to warn him about it.
“But he was not answering his phone,” she said.
They had already checked three hospitals in Parañaque and Taguig City, her sons said. Perhaps there were some other hospitals they missed?
At the time, field officers were still making the rounds of hospitals and morgues in three south metro cities, to identify the victims.
The HPG staff accompanied Mercy to a small gated garage, where the victims’ belongings recovered from the crumpled bus were stored.
Mercy let out a cry as she immediately recognized her husband’s black backpack in the blood-soaked pile. She was also able to pick out his brown leather shoes from the pile. “If he’s still alive, why would he leave his shoes behind?” she asked the HPG staff.
The final blow came when the HPG staff showed the family photos of those who died on the spot. One of Tolentino’s sons, Royjay, let out a cry as he recognized his father’s bloodied face.
So sudden
Mercy started to wail. “It was so sudden! Why was he taken so suddenly? He was a kind man,” she cried repeatedly, as a sobbing Royjay enveloped her in his arms.
“Ma, we have to be strong,” Royjay said, before his face crumpled in a sob.
Indeed, Royjay, interviewed by the Inquirer hours later at Amigos funeral parlor in Lower Bicutan, Taguig, had turned steely.
“We will file complaints against both the driver and Don Mariano,” he said firmly.
“They’re both criminally liable. Because why would they hire that driver? How was he able to pass their standards? Did they even give him an exam?” the son said, sneering.
Noting reports the bus also had worn-out tires, Royjay went on to rant: “See? They don’t maintain their buses. Don’t they even give their vehicles a road test?”
Royjay said a representative from Don Mariano bus company had already approached his family, assuring them of financial assistance and shouldering their expenses for the elder Tolentino’s funeral and burial.
“They should. But it will never be enough. They will never be able to pay for my father’s life,” Royjay said.
On Tuesday, the HPG filed in the Parañaque prosecutor’s office complaints of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and injuries against the bus driver, Carmelo Calatcat.
Only a civil suit was filed against Don Mariano Transit Corp.