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Starting next week, bus drivers will undergo regular stringent driving proficiency and drug tests.
The drivers would have no choice but to comply if they want to continue manning the more than 1,300 passenger buses crisscrossing the roads and highways of Cebu.
Bus operators in Cebu agreed to the tests in a meeting yesterday with Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and the heads of transport regulating bodies and police officials in Cebu.
The meeting was in response to the series of road accidents that, in a span of 20 days, claimed the lives of 40 people and injured over a hundred others.
The Land Transportation Office in Central Visayas (LTO 7) also agreed to deputize policemen under the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CCPO) to implement traffic laws with the powers to issue Temporary Operator's Permit (TOP).
Under the new rule, a bus driver will be required to undergo a seminar, a written examination and a practical examination on traffic rules and regulations. If a driver fails in both written and practical exams, he will no longer be allowed to drive a bus by September.
The CPPO, along with the LTO and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), will be tasked to inspect the accreditation identification cards that will be issued to those who pass the exams.
Random roadside drug-testing will be conducted starting next week for all bus drivers. The Cebu provincial government will provide the testing kits for free.
The seminar will be conducted in batches for a period of two months. Thus, starting in September, the police, as deputized agents of LTO, will start asking bus drivers to present the certification or accreditation that would show that they had passed the driving tests.
The new rules are not required under the law.
Driving proficiency and knowledge on traffic rules and regulations examinations are usually only given to those who secure their driving licenses for the first time. Drug tests, on the other hand, are required of those applying or renewing their driver?s licenses.
But the operators agreed to the stricter rules upon the insistence of Governor Garcia.
?More than anything else, it is the safety of the riding public that we are after here,? the governor repeatedly said throughout the two-hour meeting.
The operators of buses and minibuses however eventually gave in. Richard Corominas, owner of Corominas Brothers Bus Line, suggested that the seminar and tests be made.
A bus owned by V & JA, a Corominas-affiliated company, figured in the latest bus accident in barangay Don Andres Soriano in Toledo City on July 3 that killed 15 passengers and injured 65 passengers. Investigators blamed the incident on a speeding bus driver. The bus was also overloaded.
Dulce Gantuangco, owner of V & JA and mother of former Cebu Provincial Board Member Victoria Corominas, appeared at the LTFRB yesterday for the summary proceeding where she assured the company would not renege in its responsibility to compensate the victims of the bus mishap.
She said she spent P904,576.07 for the medical expenses of the injured, funeral costs of the fatalities and initial compensations to the victims or their families.
Gantuangco was accompanied by legal counsels Edmund Villanueva and May Aguilar during investigation conducted by the LTFRB-7 investigation team headed by lawyer Evelyn Misal.
She said she had also arranged with St. Francis Funeral Homes in Toledo to take care of all burial needs for the deceased passengers.
Aside from the burial expenses, the families of the deceased will each receive P60,000 in death indemnity This is all covered under the V & JA?s insurance company, Philippine Accident Manager?s Incorporated (PAMI), she said.
She said the company so far released P38,000 in cash assistance to passengers who had minor injuries and were discharged from the hospitals. They each received from P3,000 to P5,000.
The Toledo incident came barely a month after a tour bus plunged into a ravine along the Transcentral Highway in Balamban town on June 13, killing 20 Iranians and the Filipino driver. Investigators said the incident was largely caused by driver error, as he was unfamiliar with the treacherous curves of the Transcentral Highway.
Before Cebuanos could recover from the shock of the tour bus tragedy, another incident happened on June 21, when a trailer truck carrying two container vans lost its brake in Poog, Toledo City, killing four persons. A few days later, on June 24, a Ceres bus liner also crashed in a curved road in Sogod town, injuring 12 persons.
Garcia yesterday stressed the meeting was precisely called to ensure these incidents would not happen again.
?The important issue that we must now focus on are the drivers of buses or minibuses because naa dinha nagsakay ang riding public. It is always presumed that once you drive a public bus, you know the traffic rules. But as you can see some don't even know how to read road signs,? Garcia added.
Former Provincial Board Member Estrella Yapha, whose family also owns a bus company, said they would consult and inform the members of their organization about the ?local agreement? reached during the meeting also attended by LTFRB regional director Benjamin Go, LTO director Raul Aguilos and CCPO director Erson Digal.
A list of all the names of policemen under CCPO will be given today to the LTO so they could be identified as LTO deputized agents with authority to issue TOPs to erring drivers. The processing of the papers as deputized agents would be completed in two days.
Beginning Sept. 1, the police will be deputized ?to stop any bus, anywhere, anytime and look for the certification or ID from the LTFRB,? said Aguillos.
The police?s lack of authority to issue TOPs became controversial during the campaign period when the LTO declared that the Barili police had no authority to apprehend a Cebu City-owned Kaoshiung bus since they were not authorized agents of LTO.
In the meeting, Go also urged the bus operators to upgrade or modernize their fleet.
?Once the new (LTFRB) board takes over, I will propose that (bus operators) re-fleet and modernize. I will give you the right of first refusal, but you should also counter with better services (being offered) by new players,? Go told the bus operators.
In the meantime, Aguillos said all four drivers of V & JA bus company have passed both the driving skill efficiency and drug tests.
Aguilos said the drivers underwent the standard point system maneuver that included maneuvering downhill and uphill roads and blind curves; and understanding road signs.
Joey Pepito, liaison officer and maintenance officer of V & JA, said they would submit their five buses for road worthiness test at the LTO?s Motor Vehicle Inspection Center next week.
Two company buses failed an initial test conducted last Wednesday because these had no hand brakes. Pepito said they would install handbrakes on the five V & JA buses.
Gantuangco, who started in the bus operation industry as an employee of CBC Corp. in 1971, said she employed three full time mechanics since she started operating her own buses.
The V & JA buses ply the routes between Cebu City and Toledo city, Asturias and Tuburan towns in southwestern Cebu.
