Bus company, whose bus killed journalist-teacher Chit Estella, figured in an earlier fatal accident

Bus company has also NEVER filed any financial statements

My exclusive

By Raïssa Robles

When the body of journalist-professor Chit Estella was claimed by her husband, Professor Roland Simbulan, he was told his wife was not the only victim of the bus owned by Universal Guiding Star Bus Lines Corp.

In an interview, Simbulan told me: “The funeral parlor where Chit’s body was first brought told me that a fatality caused by the same bus company was brought to them four months ago.”

Bus company let it be known it paid for Chit Estella’s funeral

A news report identified Madelene M. Guillermo as the owner of Universal Guiding Star. Chit Estella was killed on Friday the 13th. That weekend, without anybody telling Madelene M. Guillermo to do it, she told The Manila Standard Today: “I immediately sent an emissary to the victim’s family and took on the P610,000 cost on funeral arrangement with Arlington.”

Are you bragging, Ms. Madelene M. Guillermo, that you shelled out over half a milion pesos for the funeral of someone who could probably afford only a fifth of that amount had she died of natural causes. Or is that your way of stopping any litigation against you and your bus company?

Or worse, is it because you have gotten so used to shouldering the funerals of victims killed by your buses it has become a standard operating procedure for you?

Interestingly, the cost of the funeral (P610,000) is also equivalent to the worth of the paid-up capital of the biggest shareholder of Universal Guiding Star.

For your information, Madelene M. Guillermo, Chit Estella’s life is worth a trillion times more than what you spent.

Questions that need answers

I would like to know and I wish the students of Chit Estella would delve into this: How many people have been killed or injured by the buses operated by Universal Guiding Star? Not just along Commonwealth Avenue but along its entire franchise route?

And also by the buses of Everlasting Transport Co., which Madelene M. Guillermo also owns?

How many people can the buses of one bus company kill before the company can be shut down?

Everlasting buses have also figured in two separate incidents

Everlasting Bus is also owned by Madelene M. Guillermo and Edgardo Balabis, who each have a stake in Universal Guiding Star.

A news report dated January 24, 2009 stated that action star Philip Salvador beat up Michael Baino, 31, after the Everlasting bus he was driving hit his side mirror. Both ended up apologizing to each other and Salvador hiring Baino as a driver after learning that Baino was only paid P400 for driving an Everlasting Bus unit every other day.

Another news report dated August 16, 2010 said 10 jeepney passengers were hurt, two of them seriously, after an Everlasting bus caused a “three-way collision”. The driver was quoted as saying he “lost his brakes.”

Her two bus companies, Universal Guiding Star and Everlasting Transport Co., have NEVER filed any financial statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission since being incorporated in 2008 and 2001, respectively. Do the companies and the owners pay taxes?

So when I heard a spokesman of Universal Guiding Star bus company say that the company was losing heaps of money due to suspension of operations by its 28 bus units, there is no way of knowing whether he’s telling the truth because of the absence of financial statements.

It’s also interesting to see Madalene M. Guillermo speaking for Universal Guiding Star, when on paper she is NOT the majority owner of the company.

In addition, Madelene M. Guillermo is President of the Mega Manila Operators and Drivers Association. I have never heard her organization issue any statement of apology to the many victims of bus accidents or anything about raising bus safety standards of its members.

The Universal Guiding Star bus terminal is located at Block 5, Lot 12 Commonwealth Avenue, Barangay North Fairview QC. Its listed contact person is Madelene Guillermo, who can be reached at telephone numbers 407-6201 or 4183341

Below are the present owners of Universal Guiding Star listed in its latest General Information Sheet filed this March 2011 at the SEC:

Madelene M. Guillermo – president –
owns 5% (500 shares), paid-up capital of P50,000
home address – block 13 Lot 14 Dahlia Avenue QC

Edgardo Balabis – chief operating officer
owns 28% (2,800 shares), paid-up capital is P280,000 pesos
gave same home address as Madelene M. Guillermo

Vinia M. Bittler – treasurer
owns 61% (6,100 shares), paid up capital of P610,000 pesos – 61%
home address – Whispering Palms Subdivision, Caloocan City
Passport Number PP0860351

Jesus S. Mallillin Jr – chairman
owns 3% (300 shares), paid-up capital is P30,000
home address – Francesca Tower, EDSA, QC
TIN- 118-215-482-000

Glenice M. Manana –
owns 3% (300 shares), paid up capital of 30,000 pesos
home address – Block 1 Lot l5 Whispering Palms Caloocan City
TIN – 254-191-863-000

Nancy J. Gamo
owns 3% (300 shares) , paid-up capital of P30,0000
home address – B7 L31 Dolmar Subdivison, Novaliches QC
TIN – 106-534-668-000

As for Everlasting Bus, it is a “general partnership” owned jointly by Madalene M. Guillermo and Edgardo Balabis. It did not disclose its capitalization.

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By Raïssa Robles

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