MMDA to file complaint vs reckless bus driver in viral video

MANILA, Philippines - The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has poised to file a criminal complaint against the driver of a passenger bus who recklessly plowed through several plastic barricades along EDSA while apparently racing with another bus on Monday.

MMDA chairman Emerson Carlos said the complaint of reckless imprudence resulting in damage to property is now being readied against Ruel Labin, the driver of a Joanna Jesh bus (TYR-744) that was captured by a motorist’s dashboard camera as it crashed through the barricades along EDSA’s southbound lane between Ayala and Buendia avenues in Makati at about 3:01 p.m.

The video footage that was sent to Top Gear by Ian Santos has since gone viral over social media.

Meanwhile, the MMDA is also asking the Land Transportation and Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to mete out appropriate sanctions against Labin and the operator of Joanna Jesh bus line over the incident.

According to reports reaching the MMDA, Labin’s bus was speeding along the southbound lane of EDSA between Buendia and Ayala avenues when it plowed through a row of plastic barriers around 3:01 p.m.

The MMDA said ten plastic barriers – each worth P3,500 – were destroyed by the speeding bus.

The MMDA said Ruby Alcantara, a member of the MMDA’s Metro Parkway Clearing Group later blocked the bus and kept Labin from leaving the scene until traffic constables arrived.  

Labin was later brought to the MMDA’s Security Intelligence and Investigation Office.

The MMDA said the accident triggered a slowdown in traffic flow as vehicles tried to avoid hitting the destroyed plastic barriers that were strewn on the highway.