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Florida's bus route to Bontoc was unauthorized
By Amanda Fernandez, GMA News
The bus full of artists, musicians and backpackers that fell into a Mountain Province ravine last February 7, killing 15, was traveling to Bontoc without a permit for that route, according to both government regulators and the bus company's lawyer.
G.V. Florida Transport buses had been plying mostly highway routes in Luzon throughout its existence, until just last September when it began journeys along narrow and landslide-prone roads in Mountain Province. They were the only buses attempting that harrowing route.
G.V. Florida Transport buses had been plying mostly highway routes in Luzon throughout its existence, until just last September when it began journeys along narrow and landslide-prone roads in Mountain Province. They were the only buses attempting that harrowing route.
Florida's lawyer Alex Versoza said it was only in September 2013 when the bus company started its Manila-Bontoc route after acquiring the franchise from Mountain Province Cable Tours.
However, the "private transaction" of G.V. Florida Transport Inc. and Mountain Province Cable Tours was not approved by the LTFRB, Joel Balano, LTFRB Information Officer, earlier told GMA News Online.
Versoza admitted that the company started its Manila-Bontoc route without the LTFRB's approval of their application of sale and transfer of ownership "to avoid abandoning of [sic] route."
He claimed that after the LTFRB meted out a 30-day suspension on G.V. Florida Transport Inc. following the tragedy, there are no more buses servicing the Manila-Bontoc route.
He later on also admitted that the ill-fated bus was also in fact a private bus registered under Dagupan Bus Company.
“On the O.R. [official receipt] and C.R. [certificate of registration], it is in the name of Dagupan Bus,” Versoza said when asked by Ginez during the hearing on the Florida bus crash incident.
Ginez said the bus unit was registered on July 17, 2013 at the Land Transportation Office in Quezon City.
Florida family
In the meantime, survivors of the bus fatalities are considering filing a law suit against the owners of the bus company, members of the Florida family who have been in the public transportation industry since the 1950s.
Florida family
In the meantime, survivors of the bus fatalities are considering filing a law suit against the owners of the bus company, members of the Florida family who have been in the public transportation industry since the 1950s.
According to GMA News Research, as of 2013, the bus company is owned and managed by George Florida (25-percent ownership), Virgilio Florida Jr. (25 percent), Milagros Florida (20 percent), Edna Florida (20 percent), and Mariano Florida (10 percent).
Versoza said the family business started in the 1950s, when they still used jeepneys. It was only in the early '80s when the family, headed by Virgilio Florida Sr., started using buses under the Florida Liner name, with Manila-Cagayan Valley region and Manila-Ilocos region routes, he added.
On the other hand, G.V. Florida Transport Inc. was only incorporated in 1999 by brothers George and Virgilio Jr. as a spin-off of the now-defunct Florida Liner, according to a post on the company's official Facebook page.
The buses service provincial routes, including Cagayan Valley, Ifugao, Isabela, and Ilocos. – HS, GMA News
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