Tado’s remains on way to Manila; survivors retell horror of Bontoc bus crash

This unit of the GV Florida Transport Inc fell off a ravine on the morning of Feb. 7, 2014, landing at a small farm in Barangay (village)Talubin, Bontoc town in Mt. Province. The bus came from Manila. The accident killed 14 people, including 2 foreigners and comedian Arvin “Tado” Jimenez whose remains were driven back to Manila on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014. RICHARD BALONGLONG/Inquirer Northern Luzon

BONTOC, Mountain Province—There was an eerie calm at the Bontoc General Hospital in this Mountain Province capital on Saturday morning when hospital workers helped clean and dress up the remains of comedian Arvin Jimenez, popularly known as “Tado.”

A hearse was parked outside the hospital, awaiting to drive Jimenez back to his relatives in Metro Manila.

The comedian’s brother-in-law, Victor Ramoso, and friends represented by Kate Lim, arrived here to claim Jimenez, who was among the 14 people killed when their  bus fell into a ravine in Barangay Talubin on Friday.

All the fatalities lay on separate cots at the hospital chapel, covered with white blankets, on Saturday morning.

Later in the day, they were laid in separate coffins, except for the remains of Marcial Baranda Jr., Jimenez’s friend, who was placed in a body bag so he could accompany Jimenez’s casket in the hearse.

Screengrab from https://www.oninstagram.com/tado

The hearse left Bontoc at past 2 p.m. for the 345-kilometer journey.

Jimenez and Baranda were the first of the fatalities to be shipped out of Bontoc and return to a grieving community of artists, political activists and show business friends.

Lim, who was designated the family spokesperson, said Jimenez’s itinerary was not clear to them, although there were discussions about mounting an outreach program in nearby Kalinga province.

Jimenez, 39, had been preparing a book, based on his trips. “Iyong specific details about [this] trip ay hindi pa namin sure kasi si Tads maraming projects kung saan saan (We remain uncertain about specific details of Tad’s travel here because Tad’s projects are everywhere),” Lim said.

For a time, Jimenez was “Mr. X” on a scrap of cardboard that served to identify his remains as it lay on a cot in the hospital. “Mr. X” was later crossed out and replaced with Jimenez’ full name.

Senior Superintendent Oliver Enmodias, Mountain  Province police director, said the police had no clue as to who Jimenez was when his body was recovered from the wreckage on Friday. Enmodias earlier described him simply as a “man with long hair.”

Aside from Baranda, Jimenez had other friends on the Florida Trans  bus that crashed into a rice field at the bottom of the ravine in Talubin at 7:20 a.m. Friday.

Jimenez and eight other passengers died instantly in the plunge, which sheared off the roof of the bus. Some of the fatalities were discovered mangled or torn up, police and rescue workers said.

Among the dead were Dutchwoman Anne Martina Adriana Van de Ven and Canadian Alex Loring (not Laring, as earlier identified by the Office of Civil Defense).

A television crew from Solar News Network also showed up to fetch the remains of its creative director, Giovanni “Bam” Morillo, who was with Jimenez’s group.

Residents of neighboring Tadian town offered to drive his remains back to Metro Manila on Saturday afternoon. Five other fatalities were taken to Isabela province in an Isuzu Elf truck also on Saturday.

Police here said eight of the accident’s 32 survivors were treated at the Luis Hora Memorial Regional Hospital in Bauko town, while 24 were taken to the Bontoc General Hospital, including 32-year-old Annenmik Verwegen, a Dutch national who gave her address as Pinstrat 142, 5021 JD Tilburg, The Netherlands.

On Saturday, a group of foreigners visited Verwegen in the hospital as she waited to be airlifted to Baguio City. The foreigners declined to talk to the Inquirer.

Police said eight of the survivors who were taken to the two Mountain Province hospitals have been airlifted by military helicopters to hospitals in Baguio City starting Friday.

The seven-year-old boy who survived the crash, Agong Sicam, was flown to a Metro Manila hospital with fellow survivor, Abegail Sicam, a musician. One of the fatalities was identified as another musician, Andrew David Sicam.

A friend told an Inquirer reporter in Manila  David Sicam was Abby’s husband and Agong’s father. The couple’s younger son, Amien, also survived the accident.

Some of the survivors said they were asleep when the bus went off the cliff at 7:20 a.m. Friday, almost 12 hours after the bus left Sampaloc, Manila.

Carina Codiamat, 27, a resident of Barangay Can-eo here, said: “I was awakened when the bus crashed. I remember feeling the rush of air as the bus plunged down, then I was rolling around.”

Codiamat was thrown off the bus, rescuers said. “When I regained consciousness, I heard children crying,” she said.

Bernhardt Beshtold, a Quezon City resident who also lives in Austria, described the accident as “surreal.”

“It was very fast, very intense. The accident happened in flash that we couldn’t react on time… it seemed very unreal,” said Beshtold, whose face bore cuts and bruises.

Beshtold said he was on the bus for a backpacking trip with friends in Kalinga.

Olivia Aglipay, 29, a resident of Barangay Bangnen in Bontoc, was awake when the bus crashed.

She was initially treated at the Luis Hora Memorial Regional Hospital but was transferred to the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) at 3 a.m. on Saturday.

Aglipay could not speak because of injuries to her face. But she indicated through gestures to her cousin, Viola Loma-ang, that the bus driver lost control of the bus possibly due to failing brakes.

Aglipay had just returned to the Philippines after a two-year work contract in Cyprus. This trip was her first time to return to her hometown.

Loma-ang, interpreting Aglipay’s gestures, said one of the passengers noticed that the bus lost its brakes and had panicked before the  vehicle fell into the bottom of the ravine.

Enmodias said investigators have concluded that the accident was due to “mechanical failure and human error,” but criminal charges are still being prepared against the owners of the Florida Trans.

Celina Claver, Cordillera regional director of the Department of Transportation and Communications, said Winston Gines, chair of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, had slapped the bus company with a 30-day preventive suspension and asked the DOTC to conduct a mechanical forensic examination of the  bus.

Claver said the Florida Trans fleet now serving a Manila-Bontoc (or Sagada)-Manila route used to be operated by a Bontoc-based tour bus company.

Florida Trans, which serves Cagayan Valley and the Ilocos regions, bought the Bontoc fleet last year, but had not completed the necessary paperwork, she said.

“So the bus that fell may have some documentation problems… I will have to look into it,” Claver said. “The new owners may have slapped their [company] name on that unit and changed the bus plates before completing the documentation needed to legitimize the expansion of their fleet.”

Florida Trans’ direct route from Manila to Bontoc and Sagada, a popular Mountain Province tourist resort town, had been popular, she said.

Claver said most travelers from Metro Manila normally commute to Baguio City (which takes an average of six to seven hours) in order to take a six-hour bus trip to Bontoc via  the Halsema Highway. The Florida Trans route takes passengers through Ifugao province via Nueva Vizcaya province to reach Bontoc or Sagada.

On Thursday night, before leaving Manila, Jimenez posted on his Instagram account a photograph of the 8:35 p.m. bus he was taking to Bontoc. The caption read: “Long trip, as in trip trip.”

That post has generated more than 4,116 likes since news of his death spread.

Reports from Richard Balonglong, Kimberlie Quitasol, Desiree Caluza and Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon

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