PB to probe Alegria crash; Magpale: van not accredited by tourism dep’t

THE Toyota Grandia involved in the fatal Alegria road crash on Saturday where seven balikbayans were killed was not a Department of Tourism (DOT) accredited vehicle.

Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale shared this during the Monday’s Provincial Board’s regular session which discussed plans to come up with an ordinance to regulate and monitor tourist vehicles in Cebu.

However, the PB decided to first conduct a legislative investigation on the accident before the PB could come up with an ordinance.

Magpale said that the ill-fated Toyota Grandia, with plate number AED 1299, cannot be found in the registration of DOT – accredited vehicles.

“When the accident happened, we sought help from DOT. When the picture of the van’s plate number was sent to them, they told us that the vehicle was not even rainbow-plated. It means that it was not accredited by their office,” she said.

Magpale, who is also the chairperson of the PB’s committee on tourism and heritage affairs, was referring to the newly implemented policy of the Tourism department that vehicles accredited to transport tourists anywhere must have plates with yellow highlights mixed with green.

This policy was introduced in 2014 to ensure that tourist vehicles are safe to use.

Magpale said that they would look deeper into the possibility that the van owned and driven by Gilbert dela Cruz, 24, was hired by a tour group not based in Cebu.

“We also received earlier information that the victims tapped a Manila-based tour group. This is why we must invite the people involved in this tragedy to determine and see what must be done,” she said. Magpale said the outcome of this inquiry will serve as basis for the legislative on its plans to pass an ordinance to lay down policies on regulating transportation services which will be used for tourism activities in Cebu.

“We’re regulating tour groups and operators here in Cebu but as to the transportation aspect, we’ll have to include them. We need to amend the Provincial Tourism Code for that,” she said.

Aside from the proposal to come up with an ordinance on regulating tourist vehicles, the PB also passed a resolution extending Capitol’s sympathies and condolences to the relatives of the victims.

Meanwhile, the Alegria Police Station has released the names of those who died in Saturday’s road crash. They are Berniti Rojas, Diana Pascual, Rey Pascual, Aurora Gagni, Jovella Huang, Joseph Huang, and Nonilo Rubio.

PO3 Leonard Francis Cabahug, a member of the investigating team, told Cebu Daily News in a phone interview yesterday that the number of fatalities remained at seven contrary to reports that it reached to nine.

“We received these reports last Sunday that’s why our chief (Chief Insp. Efren Diaz) told us to check the remaining passengers in Chong Hua Hospital. Our team arrived past 11 p.m. on Sunday and all of them were still confined in the ICU (intensive care unit),” said Cabahug.The three survivors in the crash are Fred Chai, Leonor Chai, and Elenita Rubio. Cabahug added that all relatives of the victims were now notified of the situation, and that the latter will push through on filing complaints of reckless imprudence resulting to multiple homicide and physical injuries against dela Cruz.

The victims were all Filipino immigrants in the United States (balikbayans), working as nurses and doctors. They were in Cebu for a vacation last Saturday before heading to Camiguin Island in Northern Mindanao, supposedly yesterday, for a medical mission.

But on Saturday, on their way to the Kawasan Falls in Badian from Oslob town, their Toyota Grandia vehicle crashed, killing seven of them and injuring three others.