Fatigue caused by hypertension medicines is now seen as the main reason that led to the grim accident along Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) last 1 May, which resulted in the death of 10 individuals.

During the initial hearing led by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), Chairman Teofilo Guadiz III said that the two antihypertensive medications, Amlodipine and Losartan, could have caused drowsiness that led the driver to fall asleep.

“After lunch, he took Losartan, and another medicine, and the effect of this medicine is that it will dilute the blood and eventually you’ll get sleepy,” Guadiz said in an ambush interview.

The LTFRB chair added that their investigation showed the driver got drowsy; however, they are still looking into whether the bus company had any knowledge of the driver’s health conditions.

After the accident last Thursday, Tarlac Police Chief Lieutenant Romel Carlos said that the driver told police investigators he had fallen asleep at the wheel as his vehicle approached the toll plaza.

Atty. Alex Verzosa, representing Pangasinan Solid North Inc., stated that the driver clarified he had not taken his antihypertensive medications on the day of the accident but had taken them prior to that day.

“He was worried about undergoing the drug test because he was taking the medicines, which he said were Lozartan and Amlodipine. He was scared of taking the drug test, he was scared that the maintenance medicines would show up in his test,” Verzosa said.

The lawyer also downplayed the possibility of the driver being exhausted prior to the trip, as it was his first trip on that day.

"By 9:00 a.m., he left the Cubao terminal, after an hour and a half, they had a 30-minute stopover in Dau-Mabalacat terminal and about 30 minutes before the accident took place.”

Solid North Pangasinan ops suspended

Last Friday, Transport Secretary Vince Dizon announced the suspension of Pangasinan Solid North's operations, resulting in at least 300 bus units being taken off the road.

Verzosa also attested to the decision, saying that even the province-to-province operations of the bus line were also temporarily suspended.

Almost half of the bus plates — 120 out of 273 — have already been surrendered.

The LTFRB has scheduled the next hearing for 21 May, where it aims to meet with the bus driver, conductor, and a representative of the victims to respond to the agency's clarification council.