The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) is making sure that no unit of the suspended Dagupan Bus Lines will service commuters during the Halloween break, a peak season for provincial buses.

LTFRB Chairman Alberto Suansing said he has ordered traffic enforcers to be on the lookout for Dagupan Bus Lines unit which might try to defy the suspension order issued against the bus firm after one of its units was involved in a fatal accident in Isabela province last Wednesday.

“I have requested the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to order its traffic enforcers to impound Dagupan Bus Lines units that would try to defy the suspension order,” Suansing said.

LTFRB Board Member Ma. Ellen Dirige-Cabatu said the 30-day cease and desist order was served Thursday afternoon and took effect immediately. The suspension covers the entire fleet of the bus firm composed of 116 units.

The LTFRB central office discovered that the “killer bus” was operating outside its designated route at the time of the accident.

Cabatu said the Dagupan Bus Lines unit involved in the accident was only authorized to serve the Cubao-Quezon City-Bolinao, Pangasinan route. It was learned that the bus firms’ authorization to ply up to Isabela expired in 1996.

Cabatu said the management of the bus firm has to explain in a public hearing scheduled in Nov. 5 why its unit was operating in Isabela at the time of the accident.

The public is aimed to probe the bus firm’s administrative lapse that led to the accident.

The Dagupan Bus Line unit plunged into a deep ravine after its driver lost control of the steering wheel along a national highway in Cauayan City, Isabela before dawn last Wednesday killing at least nine passengers.

Chief Supt. Roberto Damian, director of the Cagayan Valley Regional Police, said the Dagupan Bus Lines bus first hit a Toyota Hi-Lux and an Izusu D-Max before it fell into the ravine at the vicinity of Barangay Tagaran at 3:30 a.m.