DUMAGUETE CITY—Dumaguete the City of Gentle People, has also been dubbed the “Motorcycle Capital of the Philippines.”
Yet, visitors may be surprised to see thousands of motorcycles moving around town driven by people with no helmets.
With sometimes an umbrella on the left hand to ward off either heat or rain, the city’s motorcyclists go about their business like taking a five-minute drive to the market, church, office or school.
In 2011, a total of 19,000 motorcycles—or an average of 52 units a day—were registered in Dumaguete, said Roland Ramos, Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief in the city.
The number continues to grow.
Every home in this city of 30,000 families, regardless of economic status, has at least one motorcycle.
“Motorcycles are very affordable, economical and easy to maintain,” Ramos said.
Indeed, the “poor man’s vehicle” has been selling like hot cakes with the advent of easy installment plans offered by dealers.
“It’s no joke to buy a car, especially with the high price of gasoline. That’s why I’m sticking to my motorcycle,” said Romeo Caderao, a government employee.
Dumagueteños also like riding on motorcycles because they could weave through the congested traffic, not to mention the ease with which they could park through “valets” or the “watch-your-bike brothers” who show up at almost every corner of the city.
The insistence of drivers against the wearing of helmets is one big puzzle that Ramos cannot crack.
“The helmet law has been successfully implemented in other cities except in Dumaguete. Perhaps our heads are tougher than helmets,” he said in jest.
Motorcycle drivers in several public forums called for this topic, cited the inconvenience of having to lug a helmet wherever they go. They also said that they preferred to wear helmets only when traveling outside of Dumaguete but not within the usual five-kilometer distance within city limits.
Lawyer Raul Aguilos, LTO director for Central Visayas who was in Dumaguete in February, said he also found Dumaguete a unique case.
“While local officials in other cities or countries take the lead in promoting helmet use among motorists, the opposite is true in Dumaguete,” he said.
Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo and Dumaguete Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria, as well as the city council, had made pronouncements against the helmet requirement.
In January, Degamo sought a moratorium on the implementation of the law, saying “for every rule, there is always an exception.” Republic Act No. 10054, or the Motorcycle Helmet Act of 2009, mandates the use of helmets although its Implementing Rules and Regulations has been in effect since Jan. 14, 2012 yet.
Aguilos said he saw the need to further educate not only the drivers but also the politicians on the relevance and importance of the use of helmets.
One stipulation in the law’s implementing rules and regulations is a six-month information dissemination campaign so the helmet requirement will only be effective starting July 14, Aguilos said.
“I told Mr. Ramos that by July 14, after a series of seminars, we will strictly implement the mandatory use of helmets especially in Dumaguete, which is the most notorious in the entire Philippines. It’s the Motorcycle Capital but almost 90 percent are not using helmets,” Aguilos said.
He said that the LTO, however, may apprehend helmet-less drivers based on an earlier mandate—LTO Memorandum Circular 2008-33.
He said the LTO does not want to antagonize the local government officials who are opposed to the helmet law, but he stressed that such measures are in the interest of public safety.