CHAIN COLLISION Motorists stepping out of their vehicles and emergency responders behold the damage left by a speeding passenger bus that slammed into a row of vehicles on Thursday afternoon at the northbound exit of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway. At least 10 people, including four children aged 4 to 8 years old, were killed and 30 others were injured. Tarlac police on Friday filed charges of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicides against the bus driver, Teodoro Merjan, who reportedly fell asleep at the wheel. But a group advocating occupational health and safety has called on the government to look into the condition of overworked bus drivers. —PHOTO COURTESY OF PHILIPPINE RED CROSSJOB FAIRS STILL CROWDED The country continues to post record-high employment, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority—96.2 percent in February, although a slight year-on-year decrease from 96.5 percent in February last year. Yet job fairs continue to draw crowds of applicants, such as this “mega job fair” at a mall in Quezon City on May 1. Labor Day was another occasion to clamor for pay increases, but there has been no consequential announcement from the government other than its assurance that it is weighing proposals for wage increases. —LYN RILLONP20/KILO RICE SUSPENDED Bags of rice are being prepared for sale at P29 per kilo at the main office of the National Irrigation Administration on May 2. The staple was already being sold at P20 per kilo in Cebu markets on May 1, but the price peg was discontinued the next day, after Commission on Elections Chair George Garcia warned that the P20-per-kilo rice still constituted “ayuda” or assistance which is prohibited during the election campaign. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
READY FOR THE POLLS The Philippine National Police begins setting up checkpoints on Saturday, nine days ahead of the May 12 midterm elections, while the Commission on Elections prepares to transport vote-counting machines and other equipment (left) to classrooms, basketball courts and other areas that will serve as polling places on Election Day. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE, NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
