Look left and right, then look up, too

Who would think that while you were supposed to be cruising on the road on board a bus, you would suddenly see yourself being transported seemingly flying on air instead? Unfortunately, 18 souls did not find out how they ended up crushed to death when their bus literally flew after skidding and jumping off the Skyway at breakneck speed.

The Don Mariano Transit Corp. (DMTC) bus plying the Novaliches-Pacita route was cruising southbound on the Skyway early morning Monday. After swerving left to right, the bus hit the steel and concrete bars and fell some 30 meters off the Skyway at Barangay Marcelo Green in Parañaque City. The bus landed and crashed on unsuspecting motorists cruising the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) that runs parallel to the Skyway. 

The huge bus crashed on a closed van down below traversing the west service road of SLEX. The wayward bus also hit a passing bicycle rider and sent debris flying, injuring another bystander.

This chain of tragic accidents happened barely a week before Christmas. It was a sad note to start the season especially for the grieving families of the 18 bus passengers. Most of them were instantly killed.

Sixteen others were injured, some seriously including the bus driver, Carmelo Calacat who remains in a hospital in Parañaque City in critical condition as of this writing. Because of the gravity of the accident, it naturally triggered a slew of investigations by concerned government agencies from police to transport authorities.

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) immediately imposed a 30-day preventive suspension on all 78 bus units of the DMTC following the accident. A case hearing on the possible cancellation of the bus franchise of the DMTC has been set on January 7.

A day after the accident, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) began inspecting the 78 buses at the firm’s garage in Novaliches, Quezon City. About 35 buses were found to have problems with their lights, had damaged windshields and windows, or had badly worn out tires, among others. The bus that figured in the accident was found to have worn out tires, which explains why it skidded violently on the slippery road.

The Highway Patrol Group (HPG) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) filed criminal cases against the driver for reckless imprudence resulting to homicide and multiple serious physical injuries and damage to property. The HPG filed a separate civil case against the bus firm before the Parañaque City prosecutor’s office.

This latest bus accident caused the investigation of the DMTC’s compliance with labor laws. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) began looking into the plight of the drivers and conductors employed by the bus firm.

In their initial investigations, LTFRB chairman Winston Ginez found out a certain Melissa Lim and her family also own five other bus companies. They operate a total of 420 buses, many of which also figured in a number of fatal accidents in the past based on the records checked by the LTFRB.

From documents culled at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Melissa Lim is recorded as the majority owner and president of Don Mariano and Fermina Express while a certain Dalmacio Lim is vice-president and Anita, Alexander and Christopher Lim are directors.

But to date, none of these bus company owners have come forward to commiserate with the bereaved families of the victims. Neither has any of them come out to comfort the survivors. That’s the least they could have done.

Yes, they have their company lawyer to deal with the resulting legal problems their bus company has to face. So far, their legal counsel has proactively taken care of the burial, hospital and other expenses for the victims and survivors.

Under existing laws, each victim is entitled to P75,000 in death insurance claims. How cheap our lives with such measly amount of insurance coverage! No wonder bus drivers are reportedly advised to just ram dead their victims because it will be more costly for the company to pay the hospital bills.

The HPG recorded 11,808 accidents for the first 11 months of this year. Of this total, 944 were bus-related accidents. The same report showed the present total already exceeded last year’s 9,740 recorded accidents. 

Nobody wanted these road accidents to happen. Sadly, however, the recent bus tragedy did. But these accidents could be prevented and in fact, can be avoided if only there are conscious efforts about road safety.

Now we hear government officials and politicians talking about the need to install speed limiters as a check against reckless drivers, especially those plying public utility buses. Lawmakers now want bus drivers to be subject to fixed salary instead of the present boundary system. Giving bus drivers fixed salary would reportedly make them less prone to speeding just to meet their boundary earning for the day.
 Roadworthiness checks are now conducted on buses. But everyday you see these buses plying EDSA, some of them are practically “rolling coffins” and pose clear and present danger to motorists and commuters.

Perhaps, the traffic aides of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) should be given this extra task and authority to go after such “rolling coffins,” instead of just focusing on speeding, swerving, beating the red light and other traffic violations.

What is sadder is the continuing situation in our country where government agencies only act when accidents such as this have already happened.

The LTO conducts mandatory inspection of buses once a year when bus companies apply for registration. After this, inspections are only carried out by the agency in the companies’ own garages before peak season for bus commuters on Holy Week, school opening, All Saint’s Day, and Christmas Day.

We even have to watch out for flying busted tires as what happened last Wednesday when two rear tires from Mafel Transit bus bound for Quezon Avenue bounced off and hit two other vehicles on the road. The tires flew off the bus after the nuts and bolts that secured them broke. Fortunately, nobody was injured.

Before we cross the road, we are told to look to the left, then look to the right. Now we also have to look up.