The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) on Tuesday has issued a moratorium, suspending all school field trips and educational tours, following the Tanay bus tragedy that left 15 people dead including the driver, faculty staff, and 13 students. CHED's moratorium will cover all colleges and universities.
CHED Commissioner Prospero de Vera III earlier called for the temporary suspension, which he said aims to ensure the safety of all students, GMA News Online reports.
"I will request the Commission en banc today to immediately issue a directive to all higher education institutions so we can properly investigate this tragedy and review current policies covering field trips," he said.
De Vera also said the responsible parties won't get off lightly if they are proven to have been negligent in making sure the whole field trip was safe.
"We will expedite the necessary investigation to determine if proper procedures were observed by school authorities, impose the necessary sanctions, if warranted, and determine whether existing policies adequately protect the safety of students," he said.
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On Monday, a bus owned by Coach Bus Tours was transporting students from the BestLink College of the Philippines for their National Service Training Program field trip.
Unfortunately, the bus crashed into an electric post while traversing a blind curved road along Magnetic Hill in Peligrini Farm in Tanay, Rizal.
According to the initial investigation, the bus lost its brakes, which forced the driver to instead crash the bus into the electric post. The casualties were rushed to three hospitals near the area.
CHED has already asked an incident report from BestLink College while Coach Bus Tours has stated that they will shoulder the expenses of the casualties.
This story originally appeared on Fhm.com.ph.
* Minor edits have been made by the Smartparenting.com.ph editors.
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