The trailer truck involved in a road crash in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna that killed six persons and injured 15 others over the weekend was found out to be an old model and not registered with the Land Transportation Office, the Department of Transportation said Monday.
The DoTr said investigation revealed that the Isuzu trailer truck with license plates RBM-415 was manufactured in year 2000.
It added that records from the LTO showed that the truck was last registered as a private vehicle in 2016 and was not classified as a common carrier or truck for hire.
“We also wish to clarify that the LTO did not renew anymore the registration of the truck in 2017 and in 2018,” the DoTr said in a statement.
Police reports showed that the trailer truck driven by Anthony Bernardo, who was identified through his driver’s license, was speeding on the Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay Road in Barangay Sto. Domingo, Sta. Rosa City around 11:30 p.m. last Dec. 8 when it rammed 16 cars stuck in traffic before smashing into a bakery and a boarding house.
Due to the impact, six persons, including two girls, aged two and one-and-a-half months, who were sleeping at the semi-concrete boarding house at the time of incident, died due to serious injuries.
The other fatalities were found in the bakery.
The injured are still at the Sta. Rosa Medical City and Medical City Southern Luzon.
Investigators theorized that Bernardo might have lost control of the steering wheel when the brakes of the truck malfunctioned, resulting in the accident.
A manhunt is on against Bernardo who was able to jump out of his truck before it rammed the vehicles and establishments, and escaped the scene.
Following the grim road crash, the DoTr said that incidents like this are pushing them, with the LTO, and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, to really implement truck modernization.
“There is a clear need to modernize trucks for the safety of the public, as well as to reduce the pollution caused by them. Sadly, some groups are opposed the implementation of the program, and have taken a truck holiday in November,” the DoTr stated. (Alexandria Dennise San Juan)
