Over 7K motorcycle riders issued warnings, fined for violating rules on pillion riding
MANILA, Philippines — More than 7,000 motorcycle riders nationwide were given warnings or were made to pay fines for violating rules on pillion riding which was exclusively allowed by authorities for married couples and couples who live together during quarantine, the Joint Task Force COVID Shield said on Sunday.
Task force commander Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said a total of 7,091 violators were either issued warnings or were made to pay fines from July 10, when pillion riding was allowed, until July 18.
“For a long time, motorcycle riders had repeatedly requested the government to allow at least their partners to back-ride with them due to limited public transportation,” Eleazar said in a statement.
“And now that the government finally granted their request, they openly and brazenly disregarded the rules that the government was asking from them in return to ensure their safety from the coronavirus infection,” he added.
Eleazar said that based on reports from the ground, most of the motorcycle riders who were stopped and warned were caught pillion riding with their relatives, friends, neighbors, and even strangers.
Of the violators, a total of 6,476 were not only “unauthorized couples” but also had no installed barriers in their motorcycles. A total of 615 violators have installed barriers in their motorcycles, but are not married couples or couples living together.
Police Regional Office 7 (Central Visayas) has the most number of violators with 1,755 “unauthorized couples.” It was followed by Police Regional Office 5 (Bicol Region) with 741, Police Regional Office 6 (Western Visayas) with 737, and Police Regional Office 3 (Central Luzon) with 675.
Meanwhile, a total of 7,680 riders who were able to prove to authorities that they are married, or couple who are living together, was also given warnings for not having barriers on their motorcycles. Eleazar said that those must comply with the rule and install the barrier installation within the given grace period.
“Those who were accosted were either warned or cited for a violation. Our personnel on the ground were instructed to make sure that those accosted would comply with the rules set by the NTF Against COVID-19,” said Eleazar.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, also the Vice Chairman of the National Task Force against COVID-19, earlier said the NTF has approved the recommendation of the JTF to extend the deadline for motorists to comply with the approved motorcycle barriers from the original July 19 deadline to July 26.
He said this extension aims to ensure compliance with the installation of two government-approved designs for the protective barriers: those from the Bohol government and from motorcycle ride-hailing service Angkas.
Eleazar also appealed for patience from the public, saying that the allowed pillion riding rule could be expanded later to include other members of the family living in the same address and eventually to everyone, especially when the community quarantine is lifted.
“Let us allow the government to slowly implement these rules in order to ensure that everybody would comply and at the same time, for our law enforcers on the ground not to be overwhelmed by the large number of violators which was actually recorded in just a few days after pillion riding was allowed,” he said.
“The success in the compliance of the rules on pillion riding could serve as the basis for our policymakers to expand and allow more people for back-riding,” he added.
/MUF
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