Gov’t agencies, bus owners agree on need to promote safety

MANILA, Philippines—Government agencies and owners of bus companies plying Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City on Wednesday took up several proposed measures to promote road safety on the 18-lane “killer highway.”

A team composed of officials from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will start inspecting bus terminals in Metro Manila on Friday to check if their operators comply with labor laws.

“We will see the actual situation in the bus terminals and garages of bus companies to get a clear picture of the working conditions of their employees, in particular drivers and conductors,” MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said during a dialogue Wednesday with 25 bus operators in Quezon City.

According to him, errant bus operators will be issued notices of violation. They will, however, be given enough time to comply with the law.

Tolentino said the inspections were aimed at determining whether there was enough basis for the MMDA’s proposal that bus operators should set fixed monthly salaries and other nonwage benefits for their drivers and conductors instead of paying them on commission basis.

At the same time, LTFRB Chair Nelson Laluces argued that providing bus drivers and conductors with a fixed pay would eliminate the fierce competition for passengers, which lead to speeding and other traffic violations.

The dialogue was aimed at determining whether it would be possible for bus companies to regularize at least 20 percent of their work force, as provided for in the labor code.

Some of the bus operators, however, were opposed the proposal and said that it was not a guarantee that accidents would not happen.

“I just want to clarify this is just a proposal, not a consent. We have to talk to our drivers first if they want to adopt the scheme. We have to decide who will be part of the 20 percent among our drivers,” Universal Bus Line representative Myrna Fectolerin said.

Universal Bus Line is the operator of Universal Guiding Star Bus Line. On May 13, one of their buses rammed a taxi cab carrying University of the Philippines professor and veteran journalist Lourdes “Chit” Estella-Simbulan.

Simbulan was killed in the accident that took place on Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City. Her death prompted the MMDA to tighten the enforcement of the 60-kph speed limit on the major thoroughfare.

The driver of the bus fled after the accident and has yet to surrender.

Tolentino, meanwhile, proposed the confiscation of the licenses of drivers involved in numerous major road accidents and the suspension or revocation of the bus company’s franchise.

“We don’t want to come to the point that we would use an iron hand just to compel you to discipline your own drivers. It is your primary duty to always instill in their minds the value of road discipline and respect for other motorists, their passengers and pedestrians,” he told bus operators.

Labor Undersecretary Lourdes Transmonte said the inspections would also include a check of the employment records of bus companies to see how they recruit, discipline and reprimand their drivers.

Bus operators said they were open to the idea of working with MMDA, DoLE and LTFRB to find a solution to the problem.

“We will give our commitment to cooperate with the MMDA but they must give us time to study our options. We must not only blame drivers here. Aside from driving errors, we must consider traffic engineering as one reason why accidents happen,” said Alex Yague, president of the Provincial Bus Operators of the Philippines whose Bulacan-based buses pass through Commonwealth Avenue.

With the stricter enforcement of the speed limit on Commonwealth Avenue following Simbulan’s death, several motorists were accosted by MMDA traffic enforcers.

One of those who were caught was the driver of actor Richard Gutierrez.

According to MMDA traffic enforcer Buddy Caindoy, the actor’s sport utility vehicle was flagged down at 10 a.m. Wednesday after it was monitored to be running above the speed limit.

Gutierrez’s Audi was traveling at around 70 to 80 kph, according to the reading on the agency’s sensor monitor.

Caindoy said that when traffic enforcers approached the vehicle to ask the driver of his license, the actor alighted from the Audi and berated them.

“He accused them of making him late for a taping,” the enforcer said.

He added that the driver of the vehicle also refused to give his license. The enforcers, however, still issued a traffic violation ticket to the driver.

For the head of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), the hit-and-run bus driver responsible for the death of Simbulan may end up like most other killer drivers—scot-free.

Chief Superintendent Alan Purisima commented on Wednesday that he had never heard of killer drivers getting convicted of the crime in the past.

“Sa mga accidents na nangyayari, bihira. Wala pa akong nakikitang na-convict sa aksidente (In accidents, rarely. I have never seen anyone convicted in an accident),” he told reporters.

Asked why, he said one factor could be the slow action taken on cases.

“Even if they [drivers] get caught, whenever the [case takes] too long [to resolve], the victims end up forgiving them. Because the case took so long, the ending is [that] the driver just asks for forgiveness,” he said in an ambush interview in Quezon City.

But even so, he said efforts continued to apprehend Daniel Espinosa, the driver involved in the accident that killed Simbulan.

Purisima added that an NCRPO team had been formed to “go after” the driver, who fled after the crash, on top of pursuit operations by the Quezon City police. Espinosa’s wife later appeared in a press conference to publicly appeal to her husband to yield to authorities.

The official added, however, that once a case against the driver had been formally lodged, the police teams must wait for the issuance of a warrant of arrest before they can take him in.—With Nancy C. Carvajal and DJ Yap