LTO summons driver, operator of bus with loose cover that killed student

QUEZON — The Land Transportation Office has issued a show-cause order to against the driver and operator of a passenger bus involved in a fatal road incident in Atimonan, Quezon that left a 20-year-old college student dead.

LTO Assistant Secretary Markus Lacanilao ordered the driver to surrender his driver’s license, placing it under a 90-day preventive suspension while placing the passenger bus under alarm.

The registrations of vehicles under alarm cannot be renewed or transferred.

The driver and operator are ordered to appear before the LTO Central Office’s Intelligence and Investigation Division on November 13 to submit their sworn statements and explain why they should not be penalized for reckless driving, employing a reckless driver, and breach of franchise conditions.

The agency warned that the driver’s license may be permanently revoked if found to be an “improper person to operate a motor vehicle.”

Lacanilao stressed the importance of proper vehicle maintenance.

“Bawat piyesa at bahagi ng sasakyan ay dapat tiyaking ligtas at maayos bago ito bumiyahe dahil kahit isang pagkukulang ay maaaring magdulot ng trahedya sa kalsada,” he said.

(Each part and component of a vehicle should be checked to make sure it is safe and working before getting on the road because even one lapse can lead to a tragedy on the road.)

The administrative action stems from a fatal incident along Maharlika Highway in Barangay Tagbakin, Atimonan, early Thursday morning, November 5.

Police investigation showed that the victim was walking along the roadside waiting for a Manila-bound ride when the bus’s right engine cover swung open and hit him.

The student was declared dead on arrival at the Doña Marta Hospital.

Authorities immediately took the driver into custody and filed charges of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide.

Police Maj. Allan Hernandez, chief of the Atimonan Police Station, said the driver claimed he did not notice that the engine compartment cover had swung open.

This marks the second fatal accident in Quezon province involving a loose bus compartment cover after a similar incident last month that killed an overseas Filipino worker jogging in Guinayangan town.