By Raymond Carl Dela Cruz
MANILA – The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has issued a preventive suspension against the operator of a bus that crashed with another Monday night along the Guadalupe Station of the EDSA Busway.
In a statement on Tuesday, the LTFRB said the suspension was issued against Earthstar Express Inc. after the crash injured at least 31 passengers.
“A show cause order was also issued against Earthstar, ordering the firm to explain why its franchise should not be revoked,” it said.
According to an initial report, the Earthstar bus lost its brakes and collided with a bus owned by Admiral Transport Inc. while loading passengers at Guadalupe Station.
Eight passengers from the Admiral bus and 23 passengers from the Earthstar bus were wounded in the incident.
The LTFRB called on insurance firm Passenger Accident Management and Insurance Agency (PAMI) to visit the hospitals where the passengers were sent to pay the hospitalization expenses.
On the other hand, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) directed the drivers of both buses to appear before its Intelligence and Investigation Division (IID) to explain why they should not be charged for reckless driving and have their license revoked.
The licenses of both drivers were also preventively suspended for 90 days.
In addition, both bus operators were ordered to appear before the LTO-IID to explain why their firms should not be administratively charged for employing a reckless driver. (PNA)
