14 dead, 32 hurt in Bontoc bus accident . Rescuers attend to the injured and dead passengers of a Florida bus that plunged into a 116-meter ravine in Sitio Paggang, Talubin, Bontoc, Mountain Province on Friday, February 7. Cordillera PNP
(Updated 4:30 p.m.) All 228 buses in the Florida Transport fleet were ordered off the nation’s highways for at least 30 days, after one of its buses fell over a hundred meters into a ravine in the Mountain Province on Friday morning.
In a phone-patch interview on “Balitanghali” on Saturday, Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) chairman Winston Ginez said during the 30-day preventive suspension, the agency will conduct an investigation to determine if the franchise license of the bus company needs to be revoked, suspended or canceled.
Fourteen people, including comedian Arvin “Tado” Jimenez, musician David Sicam, leader of the Kinaiya Band, and visual artist Gerard Baja, were killed and 32 others hurt.
The order came after the LTFRB discovered that the ill-fated bus’s license plate (TXT-872) was issued to a different bus from Mountain Province Cable Tours.
Ginez said on Saturday, the LTFRB will confiscate the yellow plates of all 228 Florida Transit bus units with Nueva Viscaya, Mountain Province, Cagayan, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, and Bataan routes.
The Florida bus crash came just two months after a horrific fall from the Skyway in Metro Manila of a Don Mariano Transit bus that also had fraudulent identification on its chassis, belonging to another vehicle.
After the Skyway crash, the LTFRB vowed to impose stricter control over passenger buses.
In a separate statement, the LTFRB said they have also issued a preventive suspension order on the 10 units of the Mountain Province Cable Tours.
“The two companies are given 72 hours from the receipt of the Order to submit a Show Cause explaining why their CPCs should not be suspended/cancelled/revoked in view of the Board’s findings. They are also ordered to appear before the Board on 19 February 2014 for the public hearing of the case,” it said.
“Failure of the two companies to appear on the scheduled date of hearing will be considered as a waiver on their part and the Board will decide on the merits of the case based on their franchise records,” it added. — Amanda Fernandez /LBG/HS, GMA News
