Bus No. 8 registered as 2004 model, but was made in 1988 —LTFRB

The bus that crashed in Tanay, Rizal has been on the road for nearly 30 years, the Land Transportation Franchising & Regulatory Board (LTFRB) revealed in a report on Friday.

In a report by Ivan Mayrina on "24 Oras," LTFRB Board Member Aileen Lizada said that the bus owned by Panda Coach Tours and Travel Inc. was actually manufactured in 1988 and not in 2004, as stated on the unit's documents.

"This appears to be a different chassis and different engine put together in one bus," Lizada said. "The production date for both... the year is 1988, so this is a 29-year-old bus."

LTFRB Chairman Martin Delgra stressed the need to modernize all buses on the road to avoid more accidents like the bus crash on Monday, which resulted in the deaths of 13 students, a tour guide, and the bus driver.

"Yung nangyari na trahedya is because the bus that was used was very old. And it's one more reason why we need to modernize our public transportation system," Delgra said.

Delgra said they had to meet with Asec. Edgar Galvante of the Land Transportation Office as the LTFRB uses the certificate of registration given by the agency to determine the age of erring units.

The Court of Appeals upheld the DOTR's decision to phase out buses that have been on the road for more than 15 years in 2016.

However, old and dilapidated buses remain on the road, in no small part due to the common practice of putting the year the unit was imported to the Philippines instead of its manufacturing date on the unit's registry.

The report stated that most of the buses imported to the country are surplus units.

Panda Coach legal representative Atty. Bernie Panagsagan said he can only refer to the date indicated on the unit's registry as he has no access to other information about the bus.

"I will make a comment lang tungkol dun sa model as appearing in the ORC since I am new to the company and we are not privy to the registrations nung sasakyan," Panagsagan said.

Meanwhile, Carlos Inofre of the Tanay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office said they will study the accident-prone area where the crash occurred to make the curving highway safer.

"Ang focus ng DPWH ngayon, yung mga, more or less, 100 meters away from the impact area, yung pinaka-matarik dun. So yun ang tinitingnan kung babawasan o dadagdagan para mas gradual yung pagtaas," Inofre said.

Panda Coach had its franchise suspended earlier this week and will be called to the LTFRB with Harana Tours, which subcontracted it to provide an extra bus unit for BLC's field trip. —Rie Takumi/JST, GMA News