BAGUIO CITY – The death toll in the bus accident in Benguet rose to 42 after a baby girl from a female passenger was included in the list of fatalities in Wednesday's tragic incident, while the number of injured persons also increased to 7 following the inclusion of the bus conductor in the list.

The 38 identified fatalities based on records obtained from the Office of Civil Defence (OCD) in the Cordillera were identified as Rosamin Carantes Quinio, 35, her daughter Rose Nicole Quinio, 11, her son Michael Frederick Quinio, 7 and her husband Frederick Quinio, 43, all residents of Monglo, Sablan, Benguet but who have migrated to Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Alberto Anthony, 47, an Indian national and a pastor, and his wife Carlota Anthony, 37, both residents of Tuba, Benguet Berio Almasan, 43 of Poblacion, Sablan, Benguet; Rex Arsito of Burgos, La Union; Constantino Casugay, Jr., 41 of City Camp, Baguio City; Karen Mae Piluden Calixto, 21 of Balacbac, Sto. Tomas proper, Baguio City; Oscar Dumo, 16 of Bawang, La Union; Myra A. Santiago, 42 of Lower Pinget, Baguio City;  Junjun Dimalanta, 38 of Bulacan; Enrique Hao Lim of Bonifacio Street, Baguio City; Brenda Arsitio, 26 of Burgos, La Union; Jun Laigo of Dominican Hill, Baguio City; Amethyst Calado; Glen Lostica; Joey Combis Lobidad, 32; Arianne Combis; Marlon Paleg Tanan, 25; Gavino Pilay Gabin, 67; Pablito Diones, 63; Roger Florida Pilor, 47; Pastora Virginia Dawey; Octavio Polon; Francisco Sales; Renato Limit, 33; Carlos Angeles; Marlon Joson; Shiela Marie Mangilinan Estrada, 22; baby Shiela Marie Mangilinan Estrada; Consuelo Marquez; Cristina Regacho, Nida Ricamata; Rose Batani Alangdeo; Jessie Ramirez Jucar; Maricel Malina, Cristina Abadi, and two males and one female passenger who are still yet to be identified by their relatives.

The OCD-CAR report identified the injured passengers as John Rey Jucar, 5 and Desiree Jucar, 23, both of Loakan, Baguio City; Darwin Lomboy, 17 of La Trinidad, Benguet; Juan Graygutcha, 35 of Muansan, Naguilian, La Union; Arnel Paras, 26 of Rimando Road, Baguio City; Jerome Valdez, 22 of San Fernando City, La Union; Jay Angelo Gundran, 19, of Bokawkan Road, Baguio City; Romeo Subang Jr., 35, the bus driver who lives at Badihoy, Baguio City and John Patrick Flores, the bus conductor who sustained minor injuries because he was able to jump out of the bus prior to the vehicle falling into the deep ravine.

Owners of the bus company are busy working out the release of the third party liability insurance for the relatives of the fatalities and the injured passengers as initial assistance to them.

Benguet Gov. Nestor B. Fongwan also worked out the transportation of the cadavers to their respective places as well as the embalming of the cadavers in the two funeral parlors in the city.

In a related development, the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has suspended for 30 days the validity of the franchises issued by the agency to the ESO-NICE Transport Express Inc. following the involvement of one of its units in the fatal accident when it plunged into a 70-meter deep ravine in sitio Ambacwag, Banangan, Sablan, Benguet on Wednesday morning.

Lawyer Federico Mandapat Jr., regional director of the Department of Transportation and Communication (DoTC) in Cordillera, said the suspension of the franchises issued to all units of the bus company will allow the agency to facilitate and determine whether its units are road-worthy since the same will be subjected to the road worthiness test in an accredited motor vehicle inspection service in San Fernando City, Pampanga.

Moreover, he claimed the agency will also look into the defects on the four franchises issued to ten units of the company since it was reportedly issued even with the validity of the moratorium on the issuances of franchises covering public utility vehicles (PUVs) entering Baguio city.

Mandapat added all the drivers of the bus company will be required to undergo re-training to make sure that they are aware of all existing traffic, laws, rules and regulations to serve as their guideposts when going back to work once the investigation has been completed.

Originally, the franchise issued to ESO-NICE was for its units to ply the La Union-Ilocos Sur route but it was allegedly amended to cover the route Baguio-San Fernando City, La Union despite the existence of a moratorium.

Some of the units of the bus company are said to be 13-years old and above, thus the need to periodically subject the buses to undergo the required road worthiness tests to ascertain whether or not their franchises will be extended.