Party-list solon: Ban on motorcycle passengers irrational

LEGAZPI CITY—A party-list legislator asked the government to allow two persons on a motorcycle.

In a statement, Ako Bicol Rep. Alfredo Garbin said he asked the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to allow one passenger per motorcycle.

He said if the IATF allowed motorists to have passengers in SUVs, cars and pickup trucks under general community quarantine, there was no reason to bar motorcycle drivers from having passengers in the back.

Garbin, a lawyer and vice chair of the House committee on justice, said his request was based on a constitutional provision on equal protection of law.

He said if the IATF would continue to discriminate against motorcycle riders, there would likely be legal challenges and the matter would be brought to court.

Quoting a provision in the 1987 Constitution, he said that “this equal protection of law covers life, liberty, and property, as well as livelihood.”

Garbin, also a member of the House committee on transportation, cited transport data saying there were 7.2 million registered motorcycles and millions of Filipino families dependent on motorcycles as their personal means of transportation.

He said the IATF guideline barring passengers on motorcycles was irrational and inapplicable to couples and their drivers’ immediate relatives because they reside in the same household.

“The perceived benefit of social distancing does not exist in a household, in reality social distancing doesn’t apply inside a household,” Garbin said.

Edited by TSB