How do you solve problem like ‘riding-in-tandem’?

Put the subdivision gates back up.

The chief of the Marikina City police suggested this as a deterrent against so-called “riding-in-tandem” criminals in the city, 18 years after an ordinance ordered the removal of subdivision gates to ease the flow of traffic.

“I think this will greatly help. Robberies perpetrated by these elements in subdivisions can be curbed, for example,” Senior Supt. Gabriel Lopez said in an interview recently.

Lopez noted that shootings or robberies committed by tandems riding in motorbikes—who could  dart in and out of the crime scene in seconds and weave through heavy traffic—occur practically every week in Marikina.

Restoring the gates in middle-class enclaves could at least make the world smaller, if not serve as traps, for these swift assailants, according to the officer.

But Lopez recalled that City Ordinance No. 198, a traffic management measure passed in 1994, had since caused the removal of subdivision gates in the city.

The ordinance was authored by Councilor Joseph Banzon, according to the city’s public affairs office. It  was passed during the administration of Mayor Bayani Fernando.

Lopez said there was currently a pending resolution in the city council calling for a review of the ordinance.