Gordon pushes for implementation of motorcycle crime prevention law

MANILA, Philippines — The Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act should immediately be implemented to stop crimes perpetrated by riding-in-tandem assassins, Senator Richard Gordon said on Wednesday.

Gordon pushed anew for the implementation of the law following the assassination of a labor officer, a judge, and a policeman in recent days.

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“The police must finally look at these killings; these motorcycle-riding in tandem cowards are killing with impunity,” Gordon, who principally authored and sponsored the law, said in a statement.

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The senator, who condemned the recent killings, called on the Land Transportation Office (LTO) not to turn the law “into a dead-letter law through its failure to finish drafting the law’s implementing rules and regulations (IRR).”

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“Where is the IRR for the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act? Riding-in-tandem assassins are still terrorizing the country. There is no time to tarry; there is an urgent need to implement this law to stop these crimes,” he said.

President Rodrigo Duterte had earlier suspended the implementation of the law, citing that it would be “dangerous to place another gadget” in front of a motorcycle as it could pierce through the rider’s helmet.

Gordon, however, clarified then that a sticker bearing the registration number will be placed in front of the motorcycle and not a metal or tin plate.

The senator insisted that this misconception, which may have been the same information that reached Duterte, is only being used as propaganda by those against the law.

The law seeks to secure and safeguard the citizenry from crimes committed with the use of motorcycles through imposing bigger, readable and color-coded number plates to make it easier for eyewitnesses to identify the number plates of motorcycles used in crimes that they witness, Gordon explained.

Citing police records, the senator noted that 13,062 or 46 percent of the 28,409 motorcycle riding crimes or incidents reported from 2010 to 2017 were shooting incidents.

News monitoring conducted by Gordon’s office also showed that there have been 398 victims of motorcycle-riding gunmen reported from January 1 to November 5 this year.

Of the 398 victims, he added that 258 were civilians; 64 were government employees; 31 were police officers; two were military officers; 9 were judges, lawyers and prosecutors; 28 were businessmen; five were journalists and one was a religious leader.

“This will make everyone safe. Madalas walang number plate ‘yung ginagamit sa krimen, dito sa batas na ito, hindi na pwedeng ibiyahe ng walang plaka ang motor,” Gordon went on.

“One of the salient features of the law is that motorcycles travelling without number plates will be flagged down and fined. Kapag ninakaw ang plate number dapat i-report within three days, ‘pag di nireport ng may-ari, makakasuhan siya,” he added. /je