Road safety

Vallacar Transit needs to do something about its operations, at least in the selection of its drivers, to avoid similar mishaps like the most recent one in EB Magalona that left at least four people dead and more than forty injured.

I remembered early last year when Ceres was also issued a preventive suspension after a series of road accidents, one resulting to five deaths and scores of injuries as well in southern Negros Occidental.

Yes, Ceres is an established bus company that can very well compensate any accidents their buses get into. But what about lives that are lost in these accidents or those whose future will dramatically change because of the injuries they incur.

Can Ceres live with it? And what have they been doing through the years in improving the quality of service and more importantly the safety of their passengers?

In some, if not most of the cases, it is usually caused by human error, sometimes recklessness of the drivers. Do they have a rigid psychological testing or drug testing and the likes needed to make sure their fleet are operated by capable drivers?

I am sure if they can very well afford to compensate their victims, they can surely afford to put measures in place that will ensure the safety of their commuters.

Vallacar has increased its territories and has been plying not just Visayas and Mindanao but already in Luzon and it has become a pride of Negros for establishing that growth.

However, if it continues to figure in these ugly accidents, it may just fall into the category of shame rather than pride for those yellow kings of the road.

I hope officials of Ceres will do something about this and improve their operations, particularly in the hiring of drivers. They have to remember, lives cannot be replaced.

Meanwhile, Isabela seems to hog the headlines since the murder of Board Member Renato Malabor and his bodyguard which up to now remains unsolved.

We recently had two more shooting incidents there, yet, their chief of police, Sr. Insp. Anthony Grande, maintains that the peace and order situation in Isabela remains “normal.”

Now I don't know where he based his assessment of that but from what I know, and I have lived in Negros for the most part of my life, two shootings in less than a week with an unresolved high-profile shooting is far from being normal.

That is lawlessness when people think they can get away with strafing people any time they want and for our law enforcers to brush it lightly sends a very wrong signal to these lawless elements.

I also think Isabela Mayor Quito Montilla should be on top of the situation because these incidents just show he is not in control of his town and this should be curbed before it gets worse.

What is shameful is if the National Bureau of Investigation that is now in the picture will be able to shed some light first on the Malabor killing rather than our police.

Then that will be a bigger problem for our province since the PNP are supposed to be the frontliners in maintaining peace and order in our communities.

With elections coming, and I don't like to be negative about this, but somehow, these cases need to be resolved fast.*

back to top