Wayward bus driver a 3-time test flunker

‘RECKLESS’ Roel Labin, a former trucker hired by a bus firm two weeks ago, shows his traffic violation ticket at the LTFRB office on Wednesday. His troubles began when a Facebook video (inset) surfaced showing his bus hitting lane barriers on Edsa on Feb. 1. GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has asked the operator of Joanna Jesh Transport Inc. to explain why its franchise should not be cancelled after one of its buses recently rammed the orange lane barriers on Edsa.

Board member Ariel Inton said the operator was apparently negligent in its hiring process after the bus driver, Roel Labin, disclosed that his company already allowed him to go on the road after making him drive a bus “twice” around the FTI compound in Taguig City two weeks ago.

Prior to being hired by Joanna Jesh, Labin was a trucker who had flunked the test “three times” before finally obtaining a driver’s license on his fourth try, the LTFRB official told the Inquirer.

Labin tested negative for drug use but would still be facing a complaint for reckless driving, the official said. His license had also been “suspended indefinitely” by the Land Transportation Office.

“Fortunately, he just rammed the orange barriers. What if those were people? The drug test, if positive, is just an aggravating circumstance. It will not absolve anyone of any wrongdoing,” Inton said.

Labin appeared at the LTFRB office on Wednesday, saying he had received threats from his angry colleagues at Joanna Jesh after a Facebook video put their transport firm in hot water.

The now viral video showed the bus driven by Labin apparently racing with another bus and knocking the orange barriers out of place. The incident happened on Feb. 1, at 2:35 p.m. on Edsa’s southbound lane approaching Ayala intersection in Makati City.

Labin blamed the mishap on another bus that he tried to avoid as it “forced its way” through the “narrow” bus lane. Hitting the barriers was unintentional on his part, he stressed.

In a show cause order issued Tuesday, the LTFRB summoned the operator and driver for a hearing on Feb. 9, which will also discuss a possible recommendation to cancel Labin’s license.

In 2008, a speeding Joanna Jesh bus figured in an accident on Edsa that killed an optometrist.