THE Quezon City Regional Trial Court rejected on Friday the appeal of Bestlink College of the Philippines, Panda Coach Tours and Harana Bus to dismiss the P10-million damage suit filed by five student-survivors of a bus crash in Tanay, Rizal in February.
Branch 105 Judge Rosa Samson said there is sufficient ground to pursue the civil suit filed by the Lawyers for Commuters Safety and Protection on behalf of the complainants, Jerwin Abulag, Marisol Batacao, Irriz Ragua, Mark Daniel Literal and Mark Carlo Barcelona.
She said the respondents must be held liable for the bus crash that killed 14 students and a driver in Tanay, Rizal.
In an eight-page complaint, Abulag, Batacao, Ragua, Literal and Barcelona urged the Quezon City court to order the school and the two tourist bus companies to indemnify them of P2 million each in moral and exemplary damages.
According to the survivors’ lawyer, the civil suit could “deter defendants from committing similar gross negligence in the future and as an example for the public good.”
They blamed the respondents for their failure to provide safe, adequate and convenient transport service.
The respondents filed a motion to quash the P10-million damage suit, to no avail.
On Feb. 21, 15 people were killed and 40 others injured when their tourist bus (TXS-325) smashed into an electric post in Barangay Sampaloc, Tanay, Rizal at 6:30 a.m.
The students left Bestlink College in Novaliches, Quezon City to take part in a medical and survival training as part of their National Services Training Program.
LCSP founder, former councilor Ariel Inton, said the school management and bus firms committed breach of contract of carriage and negligence.
Branch 105 exempted the survivor-plaintiffs from paying the docket fee of more than P200,000 after proving they were indigents who could not afford to pay such fee.
