22 drivers fail in proficiency test

CEBU CITY (Updated 12:50 p.m.) -- Only nine of the 31 drivers employed by JD Rent-a-car passed the Professional Driving Proficiency Test given by the Land Transportation Office (LTO)-Central Visayas on Friday.

JD Rent-a-car is the owner of the bus that fell down a 73-foot ravine in Barangay Cansumoroy, Balamban on June 13, killing 20 Iranians.

The 31 drivers were made to attend a seminar on road safety and traffic signs and regulations prior to the written examination on Friday.

LTO-Central Visayas Director Raul Aguilos said the 22 other drivers who failed the examination have to retake the examination before they be allowed to drive the JD units assigned to them

Aguilos said the license of the 22 drivers cannot be suspended since they have nothing to do with the recent accident that killed 20 Iranians.

LTO also conducted a mandatory drug test on the JD Rent-a-car drivers and tests yielded negative results.

The tests on the drivers followed the road worthiness test conducted on the transport company's 31 vehicles. All its vehicles failed the test and the owners were ordered to correct the deficiencies.

Recently, the bodies of the 20 Iranians, who died in a bus accident on the Transcentral Highway in Balamban, Cebu last June 13, were flown back to Iran Sunday.

Also on board the Boeing 747 of Iran Air, a commercial passenger and cargo transport plane, were 11 survivors of the accident and their relatives. The aircraft departed at 12:03 p.m. (Sunnex)