LOURDES “Chit” Estella-Simbulan was a journalist par excellence and a college professor of journalism at the University of the Philippines (UP) when she met with an accident, a road crash so serious that it caused her life.
The accident occurred on Don Mariano Marcos Ave., now called the Commonwealth Ave. in Quezon City during a short taxi ride from the University of the Philippines to the Ayala Technopark, on May 13, 2011 or exactly 13 years ago.
Incidentally, the Commonwealth Avenue in QC has always been referred to as the “Killer Highway” due to the number of road crashes and traffic accidents there.
The Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) has convicted two bus drivers and ordered their bus companies to pay P7.46 million in damages for the death of Estella-Simbulan. She was a former Philippine Daily Inquirer reporter and Manila Times editor-in-chief. She also worked at the Malaya desk.
RTC Judge Ralph Lee of Branch 83 in a nine-page decision, dated April 22, sentenced bus drivers Daniel Espinosa and Victor Ancheta to imprisonment of two years, four months and one day for causing the death of Estella-Simbulan in a collision at Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City on May 13, 2011.
The court also directed bus companies Universal Guiding Star Bus Line Corp. and Nova Auto Transport Bus Corp. to pay the family of Estella-Simbulan P7.46 million in damages in consideration of the insolvency of the two bus drivers. She was married to University of the Philippines (UP) professor Roland Simbulan.
Short trip to death
Estella-Simbulan, then 54 and a journalism professor at the UP College of Mass Communications, was onboard a taxi on a short trip to the UP Ayala Technohub on May 13, 2011, for a reunion with high school classmates when her taxi was hit twice by the buses driven by Ancheta and Espinosa.
The long and tedious court trial at the QC regional trial court established that Ancheta was driving recklessly at the time of the accident, and Espinosa was himself traveling at a very fast pace. Judge Ralph Lee ruled that both Espinosa and Ancheta had a “clear last chance” to avoid the accident if they had been driving at a “reasonable rate of speed” and with “extraordinary care.”
“Both accused had the last chance to avoid the collision had they exercised reasonable care and precaution in driving their respective buses. Both of the accused being public utility drivers should have primary concern not just for their safety but also to their passengers and fellow motorists,” the decision read.
Nothing was said in the news reports about the driver of the taxicab, but he must have survived the accident because of this silence. Meanwhile, the court noted the achievements of Simbulan as “one of the country’s premier academicians and journalists.”
Many believe that Estella’s death prompted the authorities in Metro Manila to impose the 60-kilometer per hour speed limit along the Commonwealth Ave. With a total length of 12.4 kilometers and 6 to 18 lanes, this thoroughfare is the widest in the Philippines.
The killer highway is hard to navigate even for experienced drivers of motor vehicles, especially now that motorcycles are dominating all roads.
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