LTO suspends license of bus driver involved in multi-vehicle smash-up along Commonwealth Avenue
(Courtesy of LTO/MANILA BULLETIN)
The Land Transportation Office (LTO) announced Friday, Aug. 29, a preventive 90-day suspension on the license of a bus driver involved in a road accident along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City that left 10 people injured.
According to an LTO order, Ronaldo Bactong, the driver of the erring Public Utility Bus (PUB) with plate number ALA1878, was charged with reckless driving and Improper Person to Operate a Motor Vehicle, which has a penalty of revocation of the driver’s license.
Citing a Manila Bulletin report on the incident, the LTO also issued a show cause order against Mersan Snow White Transport, the bus company that operates the erring PUB, as it faces a case for employing a reckless driver.
“The investigation stemmed from the news about a passenger bus ramming eight motor vehicles, including motorcycles, along the northbound lane of Commonwealth Avenue,” LTO Chief, Assistant Secretary Atty. Vigor D. Mendoza II said.
He said both the bus company and the driver were told to explain their side through a notarized written explanation and deliberation.
The bus will be placed under alarm to prevent any transactions while the investigation is ongoing, according to an order signed by LTO Intelligence and Investigation Division chief Renante Melitante.
Meanwhile, Mendoza said the LTO expects that the bus company will facilitate the surrender of the license of the erring driver on or before the scheduled hearing on Sept. 4.
The bus, plying the Sapang Palay, Bulacan-Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX) route, was headed for Fairview when the driver reportedly lost control of the brakes on Aug. 28.
This led the bus to crash into a sedan, followed by a chain reaction collision involving a UV Express van, six motorcycles, a modern jeepney, and a passenger jeepney along the northbound lane of Doña Carmen intersection in Brgy. Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City.
It also damaged the tent structure of the Bureau of Animal Industry’s inspection site and the perimeter fence of the MRT-7 Doña Carmen Station construction site.