LEGAZPI CITY, Jan. 22 (PIA) - To ensure safety of the passengers from fires onboard public utility vehicles, Land Transportation Office - Bicol (LTO) and Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) Region 5 work together to launch the program "Oplan Iwas-Sunog sa Paglalakbay" on January 25.

LTO 5 Regional Director Francisco P. Ranches Jr. said during an interview in Ugnayan sa Bicol PIA 5 radio program, report shows that there are 2 casualties in a day due to road crash fire incident in the region.

This follows the data on increasing number on road accidents in 2018 to 2020, 34, 35, 39 respectively, as discussed by BFP 5 Fire Senior Superintendent Renato B. Capuz.

To start-up the plan to minimize these incident data, both agencies being public safety advocates, commit to implement terminal inspection on public utility vehicles and road inspections as well as conduct training on personnel about fire safety, among others.

Ranches said that safety on public riders are the main agenda of the LTO in coming up with this program. He added, "Hindi lamang po para sa ating mga manlalakbay, kundi ito po ay patuloy na gingawa natin para sa kaligtasan sa kalsada (Not only for our riders, but we are also pushing for the implementation of this program for road safety)."

On the other hand, FSSupt. Capuz reminded drivers and riders to customize their vehicles through professional technical experts because if not, it will cause more hazards. With hope, he said, "Alam kong magagawa natin ito para sa kaligtasan ng ating manlalakbay (With hope, I believe that we can achieve the goals for the protection of our public riders)."

This program is also in partnership with Philippine Information Agency 5, Department of Tourism 5, United Architects of the Philippines Tabaco City Chapter, Davies Paints Philippines, Inc., Rotary Club of Legazpi North, and Team Albay Youth Organization.

Likewise, the signing of Memorandum of Agreement among all agencies will happen on the said date. (KAB/PIA5)