Get Serious

Re-published Editorial from MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR dated February 11, 2014 with friendly permission of publisher Marietta F. Siongco.

"The bus accident that claimed the lives of 15 people - including comedian Arvin "Tado" Jimenez and former Ateneo de Davao University Grade School teacher Leah Abrasaldo Reyes - is yet another tragedy that need not have happened had government only taken seriously the calls for it to clamp down on wayward bus companies. The accident in Bontoc, Mountain Province last Friday happened less than two months after the fatal fall of a bus from the Metro Manila Skyway on December 16 last year which killed 18 people, and at the time an outraged populace had demaanded that government do something to keep passengers safe while in public transport. Indeed, a big fuss made officially on the issue for a while, only to die down as the matter got buried in other news.

As it is, our roads often seem like highways to hell, each trip we make a gamble on whether or not we would live to tell the tale. For a country whose people must regularly travel through hundreds of kilometers of concrete and asphalt, this is a totally unacceptable state of affairs. Bus drivers literally have our lives in their hands as they weave in and through roads and traffic as breakneck speeds, with obviously no regard for safety. Many such drivers seem to feel earning money is the be all-end all, and they drive recklessly in order to achieve it. Caught helplessly in the middle are the passengers who often have no choice but to take the bus, especially on long trips.

Each time an accident like this happens, we ask: How many more mishaps need to happen before government does something? The answer is obviously, "Much more". The Skyway accident last December passed without any real solutions being made, and now the Bontoc tragedy has really overwhelmed it. Not even the fact that a celebrity was one of the fatalities seems to be moving the authorities to doing something about the problem of abusive bus companies. The proper agencies have not yet gone around inspecting buses to make sure they are roadworthy, and none has bothered to check the licenses and franchises given to the companies. Last week's accident need not have happened, but government allowed it to. It's time to get serious about transport safety."