POOR passengers, pedestrians, motorists and people living along busy highways, roads and even side streets  in various of the country.

Throughout the years, vehicular accidents involving drug-crazed, drunken, reckless and poorly-trained drivers of public utility buses and jeeps, taxicabs and other motor vehicles kill or disable scores of Filipinos and foreigners.

Reports said that many of the road mishaps, which claimed the lives of even infants, religious leaders, government officials, politicians, showbiz personalities and other prominent Filipinos, may be attributed to human errors.

In the face of all of this, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and three bus firms -- Saulog, Genesis and Dagupan -- have signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA), which aims to ensure the safety of road users.

TESDA Director-General Joel Villanueva, a former member of the House of Representatives, said the MOA would enable the drivers to refresh their driving skills. Not only that. They will also undergo training on motor vehicle maintenance. 

Under the accord, TESDA, which used to be called the National Manpower and Youth Council (NMYC) under the Department of Labor and Employment, will train the drivers. After the training, TESDA will assess the driver’ skills to determine if he/she deserves to be certified as an expert driver.

The three transport firms, whose air-conditioned and ordinary passenger buses ply major routes in Northern, Central  and Southern Luzon, will provide the training supplies and shoulder the pay of training experts and assessors.

We commend TESDA for retraining drivers of private and government-owned motor vehicles in the Philippines, which is acknowledged to be the world’s toughest place to be a driver because of the presence of arrogant, abusive and reckless drivers.

But like other quarters, we believe that the training of drivers by said government agency should not end with the receipt of a TESDA certification.

But what is important, in our view, is for the recipients of this training program to always ensure the safety of all road users and people living and working along the country’s thoroughfares not only in the metropolis but elsewhere.