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Friday, July 07, 2006
BFP suspends fireman over traffic accident
The driver of the fire truck that caused a serious vehicular accident is restricted, even as the cash-strapped fire bureau receives a barrage of demands for it to pay the medical expenses of those who were hurt.
A complaint for reckless imprudence resulting in multiple physical injuries and damage to property is also being prepared against SFO1 Floro Soco.
Soco is barred from driving any firetruck and is limited to office work.
City Fire Marshal Ysmael Codilla said this will be the setup until the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) reports on his possible administrative liability.
The Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) is separately investigating on the criminal liability of Soco.
He was driving the Isuzu Squrt fire truck that lost brakes and rammed a passenger jeepney and damaged six other vehicles Wednesday at the corner of T. Padilla St. and M.J. Cuenco Ave. in Barangay Tejero.
Twelve people were injured, including a jeepney conductor who will likely lose his left leg.
Monetary aid
Codilla said some of the injured victims went to his office at 2 p.m. yesterday to ask for monetary aid to cover their expenses for medicines and other bills.
He explained that the agency has no money. But he advised the victims to submit copies of their claims and he would try his best to facilitate these with their headquarters in Manila, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office or from local government units.
On the unregistered fire trucks in the city’s BFP, Codilla said he cannot answer it because it is the regional BFP that handles the registration of all bureau-issued fire trucks.
The fire truck that figured in the accident was reportedly not registered at the Land Transportation Office (LTO).
Registered
But Alita Pulga, chief of the LTO- Cebu City vehicle registration office, said the firetruck involved in the accident is registered with the LTO in Carcar.
They are still locating its records, which are not in their computer files. The plate number is listed in the logbook of the LTO-Carcar and Pulga is now tracing the documents on file.
“We cannot yet tell whether the registration of the vehicle had expired or not unless we can get hold of the documents covering it,” Pulga said.
If it has an expired registration, then there’s a possibility that the mandatory insurance coverage for “third-party liability” (TPL) also lapsed and the victims cannot receive insurance benefits.
Pulga is sure that the fire trucks were registered because they already have plate numbers. If their registration already expired, the BFP must pay the registration fee, penalties and storage fees before they can be issued the renewal of registration.
Pulga admitted that months ago, Codilla, sent a representative to the LTO and asked how to locate the registration papers of their fire trucks.
Fees
“They (BFP officials) are willing to register the fire trucks and pay the corresponding fees,” Pulga said.
The LTO 7 is tracing the plate numbers of the fire trucks so they can be issued duplicate copies of the certificate of registrations and Official Receipts to legalize ownership.
LTO 7 Director Alex Leyson said that based on the plate numbers submitted by BFP 7, they will look in the agencies the vehicles are registered so they can secure duplicate copies of the document on files.
Once the records of the firetrucks are retrieved, expired registrations will be renewed. JST/EOB
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 7, 2006 issue)
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