The Philippine National Police is set to crack down on motorcycle-riding criminals after the May 14 village elections.
“We have plans to address these riding in tandem incidents beside expanding Oplan Sita and checkpoint operations,” PNP Director General Oscar Albayalde said in a press briefing during the turn-over ceremony for the Police Regional Office 4-A in Laguna Tuesday.
“We will be coming up probably after election we will be launching a new project that will [double time] or that could help address the riding-in-tandem incidents,” he added, while declining to give details.
This developed as motorcycle clubs strongly proposed an ordinance in Caloocan City that copies a Mandaluyong City measure imposing sanctions on riding-in-tandem other than those with blood relation to the driver.
On Tuesday, members of the Riders of the Philippines (ROTP) and Motorcycle Rights Organization (MRO) rushed to the public hearing for the proposed ordinance authored by councilors Milagros Mercado, Marylou Nubla and Christopher Malonzo.
Under the measure, Caloocan will prohibit a driver, whether male or a female, to ride in tandem with a male unless he is his father, son, husband, grandfather, grandson, father-in-law, uncle, nephew and son-in-law. They will have to provide a “proof of residency” to do so.
Once approved, violators will be fined from P500 and imprisoned for 10 days, or P5,000 and 60 days of imprisonment, depending on the decision of the court.
The ordinance also strengthens the implementation of Children Safety on Motorcycle Act, or the restriction on child-riders, and the Motorcycle Helmet Act or wearing of helmet by the riders.
In an open letter sent to Caloocan City Mayor Oscar Malapitan, ROTP and MRO spokesman Jobert Bolanos said although the measure has “good intentions” to resist criminals using motorcycles, “the blame should not be passed to the innocents by not curtailing their right of choosing who they want to ride with.”
“Don’t follow the discrimination that applies to Mandaluyong known as Anti-Rider LGU to our community of motorcycles. When you do this, it would strain of the citizens of Caloocan in their daily lives and trail towards their destination,” Bolanos said.
He added that only police visibility, sheer intelligence and counter-intelligence are the solutions to the problem caused by criminality and not the anti-rider ordinance.
Albayalde noted that heightened checkpoint activities for motorcyclists and increase police visibility have drastically lessened the incidents of killings by riding-in-tandem gunmen.
“We admit there are still incidents but these have been reduced by more than 50 percent because of our strengthened police visibility, Oplan Sita, and checkpoint operations,” the new PNP chief added.
Police special reaction units in motorcycles were also deployed to thwart riding-in-tandem criminals.