Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Vigor Mendoza II has immediately issued a 90-day preventive suspension on the driver’s license of the motorist behind the fatal accident at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 on Sunday.
The agency issued a show-cause order (SCO) against the registered owner and driver of the black sports utility vehicle (SUV) in question. The motorist was asked to surrender his driver’s license at the soonest possible time.
Mendoza extended his deepest sympathies to the victims, particularly the two people who died from the tragedy—one of whom is a five-year-old child of an overseas Filipino worker, who was trying to catch a flight.
“We already issued an SCO asking both the registered owner and the driver to appear before our office and explain the incident as part of our investigation,” he added.
Based on the report obtained by the LTO, the black Ford Everest with plate number DCB-3411 crashed into the west departure curbside area at around 8:00 a.m. on Sunday morning.
The driver told the police that he was about to leave the departure area after dropping off a passenger when a Sedan car suddenly passed in front of him.
This made him panic and inadvertently stepped on the gas pedal instead of the brakes. Two people died and four were injured.
Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon immediately went to the area to check the condition of the victims.
Mendoza said while there was already a statement from the driver, they would still conduct an independent probe to look into all the circumstances that led to the incident.
