MANILA, Philippines — An official of the Department of Public Works and Highways field office in Bontoc, Mountain Province, has dismissed as “unbelievable” the GV Florida Transport’s claim that poor road condition was to blame for the Feb. 7 fatal accident involving one of its buses, leaving 14 dead and 31 injured.
THE WRECKAGE of the Florida Transport bus is left at a farm in Barangay (village) Talubin in Bontoc, Mt. Province. Strewn around it are personal belongings of its passengers, 14 of whom had died and 32 others taken to hospitals in Mt. Province, Baguio City and Metro Manila. RICHARD BALONGLONG
DPWH District Engineer Wilbur Likigan told the Philippine Daily Inquirer “it’s not true” that poor road condition precipitated the accident.
Contacted by phone, he pointed out that “that portion of the Bontoc-Nueva Vizcaya road where the accident took place is well-maintained.”
“We have a roving team of road sweepers who makes sure that the entire stretch of the road is free of sand particles, stones, rocks and other loose materials caused by landslides,” he explained.
“And those sweepers do their assigned task regularly,” said the DPWH official.
He asserted “it’s totally unfair to put the blame on the road condition. We’re inclined to believe it’s either mechanical failure or the bus driver’s error that may have caused the crash.”
“Definitely not the road condition,” he said, adding “it’s unbelievable.”
On Wednesday, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board chair Winston Ginez said that mechanical failure and the driver’s negligence apparently led to the tragedy.
The agency has slapped a 30-day suspension on all 228 units of the GV Florida Transport after discovering that the license plate of the ill-fated public utility vehicle belonged to a bus owned by another company, the Mountain Province Cable Tours (MPCT).
Initial LTFRB investigation disclosed that the MPCT franchise and its buses were sold to GV Florida Transport in September 2013.
Driver Edgar Renon, who survived the crash, and the owners of the firm, face charges of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and multiple physical injuries.
Last Tuesday, the Philippine National Police regional office in Bontoc filed the criminal charges before the Mt. Province Prosecutor’s Office.
The charges were based on affidavits of surviving victims of the accident and witnesses who claimed the bus was speeding along the sloping highway before it fell into the ravine.
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