An opposition leader in the House of Representatives on Thursday sought the repeal of the ‘Doble Plaka’ law that requires motorcycles to have bigger number plates roughly the size of a short bond paper in both their front and back sides.
“We will definitely introduce a bill in the next Congress repealing that flawed law that was passed rashly, without careful consideration of the potential consequences,” Deputy Minority Leader, Rep. Lito Atienza said, referring to the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Law, or Republic Act 11235.
President Rodrigo Duterte has already ordered the Land Transportation Office to suspend the implementation of the highly controversial law due to rider safety concerns.
The law requires the LTO to prescribe bigger color-coded number plates that are readable from the front, the back, and the side of the motorcycle from a distance of 15 to 20 meters from the vehicle.
The measure is supposed to help suppress the surge in violent crime being carried out with the use of motorcycles, especially riding-in-tandem attacks by professional killers.
According to Atienza, “guns for hire are becoming more daring not because of motorcycles. They are getting bolder simply because they are not getting caught fast enough.”
“Relentless police action is the best way to quell the rise of contract killers, which is really a law enforcement problem,” Atienza, former three-term mayor of Manila, added.