Palace: Hit bus firms where it hurts

MALACAÑANG yesterday vowed to hit erring bus companies “where it hurts most” to prevent accidents like the crash that killed 15 people, including comedian Arvin “Tado” Jimenez, in Moutain Province last week. (See related story in Metro, Page A17.)

“In addition to legal, judicial actions that may be taken by the aggrieved parties, insofar as the government is concerned, you hit them where it hurts them most insofar as profitability is concerned,” presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a press conference.

“We take out their franchise, they are not able to operate, and that’s the very severe penalty on the bus franchises,” Lacierda added, pointing out that franchises were a “privilege,” not a right.

Lacierda said President Aquino was “very concerned” about the increasing accidents involving buses despite stricter safety rules.

He was referring to the GV Florida bus that fell into a ravine in Bontoc last Friday.

The President wants a meeting of road safety agencies for a discussion on accident prevention, Lacierda said.

The filing of charges against the drivers of the GV Florida bus did not push through yesterday, as police had yet to finish gathering the statements of survivors.

Senior Supt. Oliver Enmodias, Mountain Province police director, said the serious condition of the more than 30 survivors made getting their statements difficult.

Most of the survivors have serious head and body injuries.

Enmodias said the survivors needed time to recuperate before they could be put through questioning.

That would delay the filing of charges against Edgar Mendoza Renon and Alexander Longalong, the drivers of the bus belonging to GV Florida Transport Inc. that fell into a ravine in Talubin village in Bontoc at 7:20 a.m. on Friday.

Television reports yesterday said the death toll from the accident rose to 15 with the death of an injured passenger in a hospital inMetro Manila.

Enmodias, however, said the official death toll remained at 14, as the Mountain Province police had yet to receive confirmation of the death of a 15th victim in Manila.

To prevent accidents, Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito yesterday filed a bill that would require “speed limiters” on buses, as in Japan.

A speed limiter is a device that keeps the top speed of a moving vehicle to a preprogrammed speed per hour.

Lamenting the frequent road accidents, Ejercito proposed the installation of speed limiters on city and provincial buses.

His bill would limit bus speeds to 80 kilometers per hour on expressways, except otherwise provided by law.

“Even if the driver steps hard on the gas pedal to accelerate, the bus will not go beyond the programmed speed limit,” Ejercito told reporters.

His Senate Bill No. 2110 would make speed limiters one of the requirements in applying for bus franchises.

Ejercito proposed a maximum fine of P100,000 for bus operators who fail to comply and the suspension of franchises until the operators comply.

He also proposed imprisonment of one year and a fine of P50,000 as penalty for anyone tampering with the speed limiter.

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chair Francis Tolentino said he supported Ejercito’s proposal.

MMDA Traffic Engineering Center head Noemi Recio confirmed that there was no speed limit on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, which explains why MMDA traffic enforcers do not apprehend speeders on the 23.8-kilometer highway.

“We impose a speed limit only on Commonwealth and [Diosdado] Macapagal avenues,” Recio said.

Sen. Francis Escudero took the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to task for failing to inspect buses “for safety, suitability and drivability.”

“If they’re able to inspect buses after an accident, they should do it to all buses, whether there’s an accident or not,” Escudero told reporters.

In the House of Representatives, Bayan Muna party-list Representatives Neri Colmenares and Carlos Zarate asked their colleagues to give priority to the passage of House Bill No. 3611, the proposed Bus Drivers and Conductors Compensation Act, to check the increasing accidents involving buses.

Parañaque Rep. Eric Olivares proposed that closed-circuit television cameras be installed on buses as a deterrent to highway robberies.

Olivares said the security cameras would alert bus operators to robberies happening on their buses in real time, enabling them to call police.

Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga has filed a similar bill.