The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
The Land Transportation Office (LTO) has revoked the driver’s license of the motorist involved in the fatal Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) crash on May 4, which claimed the lives of two individuals.
In a five-page resolution signed by LTO Chief Assistant Secretary Vigor Mendoza II, the driver of the black SUV from Batangas was found guilty of reckless driving. He was fined PHP2,000 and his license was ordered revoked for four years.
“Applying the above-mentioned provisions and jurisprudence to the facts of the case, the respondent-driver committed reckless driving that endangers the property or the safety or rights of the victim, given the gravity of his actions,” the decision stated.
According to Mendoza, the penalty handed down represents the maximum allowed by law for a motorist deemed unfit to drive. The decision was reached after the driver failed to submit a statement or explanation in response to the charges of reckless driving and being unfit to operate a motor vehicle.
Mendoza reminded the public that driving is “not a right but a privilege,” one that can be withdrawn if laws and road safety regulations are violated.
In a related development, Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon pledged government support to the victims’ families in filing civil cases against the driver.
“Hindi po natin sila iiwan, tuloy-tuloy po tayo,” Dizon said during an interview at the Office of the Clerk of Court in Antipolo City, where he was also present for the filing of civil cases related to the May 1 SCTEX bus crash.
The victims of the NAIA crash were a four-year-old girl from Lipa, Batangas—the daughter of an overseas Filipino worker—and a 29-year-old man from Hagonoy, Bulacan.
Autopsy results confirmed both died of blunt force trauma: the man from injuries to the head and spinal cord, and the girl from trauma to the head and lower extremities.