Drug-crazed bus drivers

What’s with buses in the Philippines? Why have they become instruments of death for dozens of people?

Aside from the ill-fated tourist coach that a wild ex-cop hijacked on August 23 in Manila, other buses have brought death and injury to dozens of passengers with growing frequency in other parts of the country.

On June 13 a tourist bus carrying about 50 passengers, mostly Iranian medical students and physicians, fell into a ravine in Balamban, Cebu. 21 people were reportedly killed.

On July 3 at least 15 people died and 48 others were injured when a commuter bus rammed a concrete fence in Toledo City also in Cebu province.

A month and a half later 41 people were killed instantly when a packed bus plunged into a ravine in the highland province of Benguet. The death toll from the August 18 crash was raised to 42 after one of the female fatalities was found to be pregnant.

On August 29 at least five people were killed and 52 others were injured after a bus fell into a creek in Quezon province. The bus, which originated from Tacloban City, was on its way to Manila.

The quick succession of fatal bus accidents has triggered the type of response from the authorities that can only be described as perfunctory. Buses have been crashing in this country with such regularity that officials have apparently come to regard them as routine.

The Land Transportation Fran-chising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), for instance, issued press statements that the franchises of the bus companies involved in the “accidents” have been suspended.

Similar suspensions have been meted out in the past to bus companies with units that figure in incidents, which resulted in the death of passengers, pedestrians and other road users. However, none of these and other government measures has made buses in this country any safer.

In the incidents noted above, for instance, the drivers—who all managed to somehow survive—invariably tell the same story: brake failure.

If their common excuse were true, there can only be one conclusion: buses are not regularly checked for roadworthiness by their owners and government regulators—or the drivers simply lied to investigators.

There is also the long-held suspicion that because of the so-called “boundary” system prevailing in the mass transport business drivers tend to push themselves to the limit. Their daily take-home pay depends on how many trips they can make and on how many passengers they can get to carry.

Not a few bus—and jeepney—drivers are believed to resort to illegal drugs if only to keep themselves awake behind the wheel.

Methamphetamines, locally known as shabu, are the drug of choice for drivers who think it can help stave off the effects of exhaustion. Unfortunately, shabu also impairs their judgment.

Witnesses often recall seeing buses weaving wildly in traffic and careening at breakneck speed before they crashed. The combination of poor—or nonexistent—vehicle maintenance and drug-crazed drivers is the likely reason for the growing number of bus crashes.

Reacting to this disturbing trend, Rep. Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar has called for the outright dismissal of bus drivers who test positive for shabu and other narcotics.

Evardone also urged the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to scrap its policy of “second chance,” which is routinely given to drivers who are found to be positive for drug abuse.

“It should be a policy of one-positive-test-and-you-are-out,” said Evardone who counts some of his constituents among the casualties of the August 29 incident in Quezon.

“Drivers have a huge responsibility to the riding public,” Evardone told newsmen recently. “Once drivers are tested positive for illegal drug use, public utility operators should not be forced to adopt a second-chance policy, or a policy of leniency.”

The Estehanon congressman also recommended that all reckless drivers who figure in major accidents be stripped of their driver’s licenses by the Land Transport Office so they cannot transfer from one bus firm to another and continue plying their deadly trade.

“The rules toward reckless drivers and drivers who take illegal drugs tilt heavily in their favor,” said
Evardone, adding that the regulations on crime and punishment are applied very leniently on wayward public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers.

Evardone noted that while doctors found guilty of malpractice are usually stripped of their licenses to practice medicine, the rules are very lax toward reckless and irresponsible PUV drivers.

Evardone said that reckless drivers and drivers under the influence of narcotics are often the reasons behind major bus accidents.

“While we want to blame the bus companies for irresponsible behavior, the truth is one major accident is enough to ruin a company,” the congressman said. “And we have many such stories, bus companies undone by just one major accident so it is in their best interest to have zero accidents.”

Evardone also called for a private sector-government program for the training and retraining of drivers, possibly under the Technical Education and Skills Deve-lopment Authority (Tesda) and the major bus associations across the country.

The government has already adopted stringent rules toward junk buses and rolling coffins and it is high time that driver training and retraining get more attention, he added.

Divers: Clear!
The International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) is a global volunteer program that sponsors the annual clearing of trash from coastlines, rivers and lakes.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the ICC, which will be observed by the local scuba-diving community and other sectors on September 25.

Planet Dive Resort—located in Barangay San Teodoro in Mabini, Batangas—has been an active program participant for the past 11 years. It is again inviting divers with open-water or higher scuba certification to participate in its ICC activities.

According to National Association of Underwater Instructor (NAUI) tech instructor Dennis “Dencio” Catienza, one of the owners of Planet Dive Resort, they have scheduled at least two cleanup dives on ICC Day. –DAN MARIANO, Manila Times

For more details interested parties may call or text Dax at 09278781149 or Lenlen at 09167043718.

dansoy26@yahoo.com