Senate passes bill requiring bigger license plates for motorcycles

Sen. Richard Gordon authored the Motorcyle Crime Prevention Act of 2017, along with Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III. (File photo by LYN RILLON / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

The Senate on Tuesday passed on final reading a measure that will require motorcycles and scooters to have bigger license plates to curb “riding-in-tandem” crimes.

The Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act of 2017 (Senate Bill No. 1397), authored by Sen. Richard Gordon and Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, was approved with 21 votes.

“Motorcycles have become crime machines,” Gordon said in a statement. “With their small plate numbers, criminals perpetrating crimes while on board motorcycles easily flee from the scene of the crime and usually there are no witnesses who can read or identify plate numbers so that the authorities can go after the criminals.”

“By increasing the size and visibility of the motorcycle plates to be able to read the plate numbers from a distance, witnesses and law enforcement agencies are aided in the identification of motorcycle riders who are involved in accidents or criminal activities,” he added.

The measure mandates the Land Transportation Office to issue bigger and reflectorized license plates to every motorcycle and scooter in the country. The plate numbers should be big enough to be readable from 12 to 15 meters away.

It also directs the agency to devise a color scheme of the plate numbers for every region, so it would be easy to tell where a motorcycle is registered, and an alphanumeric system for easier identification.

According to Gordon, the Philippine National Police recorded 1,069 crimes involving riding-in-tandem suspects with 810 killed victims in 2011, higher than the 824 recorded shooting incidents in 2010 with 604 killed victims.

In Metro Manila alone, the number ballooned to more than 3,000 in 2013. In 2014, it went up to 6, 219 crimes and decreased to 6,006 in 2015, the senator said.

“This is an example of the impunity upon which motorcycles have been utilized in killing,” he said.

Under the bill, the owner, driver, or passenger will be imprisoned for 12 to 20 years if the motorcycle is proven to have been used to commit a crime. The owner will also be held liable if he or she fails to report the theft of the vehicle. /atm