It was a Nova Auto Transport bus that first sideswiped the taxi carrying veteran journalist and University of the Philippines professor Lourdes “Chit” Estella-Simbulan on the night she died in a fatal car crash, according to two eyewitnesses and bus employees.
A fellow driver and conductor of bus driver Daniel Espinosa of Universal Guiding Star made this assertion in a sworn statement to support the claim that the tragedy was an unfortunate accident.
“These two eyewitness accounts will show that my client is not at fault, because the two witnesses saw how he (Espinosa) tried to avoid (hitting the taxi) but it was too late,” said their lawyer Salvador Panelo.
Panelo is Espinosa’s lawyer in the reckless imprudence resulting in homicide and damage to property and abandonment of one own’s victim cases in the Quezon City Prosecutors’ Office.
The two eyewitnesses—UGS bus driver Honorio Panaga and conductor Jonathan Calixto—went with the lawyer to the Prosecutors’ Office to swear to the truth of their statements.
The two accounts will form part of Espinosa’s counteraffidavit, which will be submitted on May 31 in a preliminary investigation before assistant city prosecutor Ronald Torrijos.
Panaga was the driver of a UGS bus (UVC 267) which was right behind Espinosa’s own UGS bus (UVC 343) at the time of the fatal car crash on the night of May 13.
Estella was killed when Espinosa’s bus crashed into the rear of the taxi she was then riding along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.
In his account, Panaga recalled how he saw a Nova Auto Transit bus first sideswipe Estella’s cab and how Espinosa’s bus tried to avoid hitting the taxi.
“A few moments later, I saw Espinosa’s bus brake and veer to the right to avoid the taxi in front of him but the bus still hit the taxi’s rear,” the statement said in Filipino.
Simbulan came from her house in the Tandang Sora area and was on her way to a high school reunion at the UP Ayala Land Technohub.
Espinosa’s bus hit the gutter and a small tree in front of the commercial complex.
Both Panaga and Calixto said they picked up the passengers from Espinosa’s bus and went on their way.
Panelo is seeking a subpoena for the owner of Nova Auto Transport for the identification of the runaway Nova bus that first sideswiped the taxi.
Panelo said he would ask Torrijos, the investigating prosecutor, to issue a subpoena duces tecum and ad testificanum for owner Dr. Melissa Lim to present the bus firm’s May 13 logbook.
The logbook, the lawyer said, will identify the first Nova bus allegedly involved in the accident.
Earlier, Panelo said Espinosa recalled seeing two Nova buses racing from behind his bus moments before one of the Nova units sideswiped Estella’s taxi.