Naga mayor asks IATF to let spouse or child be motorcycle passenger

LEGAZPI CITY—The city government of Naga had asked a national government task force governing COVID-19 response to allow two persons on a motorcycle if the second person is first degree relative, spouse or child of the motorcycle driver.

In a letter dated May 15, Naga Mayor Nelson Legacion said allowing two persons per motorcycle would help people required to report for work in their daily commute.

Letting two people on a motorcycle, said the mayor, posed no risk of coronavirus transmission among family members because they were expected to be practicing social distancing at home.

“Public transportation is still very limited,” Legacion said in the letter addressed to the Interagency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), which governs government response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said letting workers or children ride on the back of motorcycles being driven by their spouses or parents “is a viable alternative for transporting them from home to work, vice versa.”

Naga City has been under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) since May 1, allowing some establishments to reopen and some workers to report for duty.

A Department of Transportation order barred passengers from riding on the back of motorcycles to comply with social distancing rules.

Legacion said that if approved, family members may present marriage or birth certificates to local officials, who may give them passes to let their spouse or child ride on the back of their motorcycles.

Edited by TSB