Bus driver in ABC-5 collision released

The driver of a passenger bus that collided on Sunday with a service pickup of television station ABC-5, which resulted in the deaths of a reporter and two cameramen, was released on Tuesday after no one came forward to file a criminal complaint. "No one came forward to file a criminal complaint against him. We had no choice but to let him go," said Superintendent Edgardo Basa, police director of Pamplona, Camarines Sur, over dzRH radio. The bus driver, Alberto Mendoza, surrendered to authorities immediately after the incident that claimed the lives of ABC-5 senior reporter Anna Liza "Hazel" Recheta-Calimag, cameraman Arnel Guiao, and assistant cameraman Ismael Cabugayan. The ABC-5 crew was returning to Manila after a week of covering the eruption of Mayon Volcano in Albay province. Initial investigation showed the television station's Nissan Frontier had just overtaken a vehicle when an explosion was heard. The pickup lost control and collided with the bus driven by Mendoza. Meanwhile, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo went to the Funeraria Paz in Quezon City Tuesday afternoon, where the remains of the ABC-5 news crew were brought Monday afternoon. -GMANews.TV