Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Vigor D. Mendoza II has ordered all regional directors and district office heads of the agency to intensify a regular road worthiness inspection of public utility buses in terminals following a fatal road accident in Antique that left at least 12 people dead.

Mendoza stressed the importance of regular roadworthiness inspections especially that millions of passengers are expected to travel across the country for the Christmas season.

“Following this fatal road accident in Antique, I also instructed all LTO Regional Directors and heads of District Offices to further intensify the conduct of road worthiness inspection and the ‘No Registration, No Travel’ policy,” said Mendoza. 

“If it also requires that the road worthiness inspection of public utility vehicles, especially passenger buses, is done on a weekly basis, so be it. What is important is to ensure the safety of passengers and other road users, especially that Christmas season, when we expect more travels of our kababayan, is here,” he added.

In a statement on its Facebook account, Vallacar Transit Inc., the operator of Ceres bus that plunged into a deep ravine in Hamtic, Antique at around 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 4, apologized over the incident.

“As per confirmation, there are 12 confirmed casualties at the moment, nine of which are passengers, and the remaining three being our bus driver, conductor, and line inspector,” the statement read. 

“Vallacar Transit, Inc. would like to express our most heartfelt apologies for those who were involved in the incident. We would also like to send our sincerest condolences to the bereaved families,” it added.

The company said the area where the incident happened— Kilometer 174 in Barangay Igbucay, is known to be accident-prone, with numerous vehicles falling off in the past.

It said the bus was carrying 24 passengers and was on its way to Culasi town from Iloilo. 

“VTI has reported the incident to the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board immediately, and is willing to cooperate with any investigations they will be conducting,” the statement read.

Probe 

Mendoza said he already instructed the Regional Director of LTO-Western Visayas to conduct an investigation into the incident.

“The investigation is for us to have a clear picture on what really happened and eventually obtain necessary and useful information that will assist us in coming up with more measures to prevent fatal road accidents like this,” said Mendoza. 

“The LTO-Western Visayas Regional Director was also directed to determine how the LTO family can assist both those who died and are now in the hospital as a result of this unfortunate incident,” he added.

Voluntary suspension

Vallacar Transit Inc. said it had already decided to voluntarily suspend all operations of the 12 remaining units under the pending investigation.

“VTI will be providing financial assistance to the passengers and their families, as well as shouldering the medical and burial expenses.  The management has assigned personnel to be on stand-by at the hospital for further updates and assistance,” the company said.

“Rest assured that we are doing everything that we can to make sure that this is being handled properly and carefully.  The management guarantees the riding public that we are taking all the appropriate steps to ensure that our buses are road-worthy and well-maintained,” it added.

Preventive measures 

Mendoza said he will coordinate with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and reach out to companies and operators of passenger buses to come up with additional road safety measures.

“Road accidents like this is the main reason why I instructed all LTO Regional Directors when I assumed my position in July to make the road worthiness inspection of vehicles and check on the physical and mental condition of drivers in bus terminals as regular as possible,” said Mendoza.

This is also the reason, according to Mendoza, why he ordered the strict implementation of “No Registration, No Travel” policy since care registration is one of the ways to check on the road worthiness of vehicles.