The Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act Cannot Be Suspended
SEN. RICHARD GORDON – The Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act is a law that requires motorcycle owners to put bigger color-coded number plates on their vehicles.
The law also requires that the number plates should be visible from all sides within a 15 meter distance.
Republic Act 11235 or Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act is a law backed by the Senator Richard Gordon. After his proposal of the Senate Bill 1397 or the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act of 2017 with Senator Vicente Sotto III.
Sen. Gordon disagreed with President Rodrigo Duterte’s move to suspend Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act yesterday. Says it is to alleviate the problems of motorcycle-rider related crimes.
Based on the News report from Philstar, the senator said that the law cannot be suspended. However, it can only be changed or amended because it has already been “signed by the president.”
President Duterte, on the other hand, said that he would set up a talk with the senator to make an agreement.
The senator also revealed some statistics regarding the issue, saying that on average, at least four people end up as victims of motorcycle-riding criminals daily. And that 4,000 have died due to motorcycle-riding related crimes.
He mentioned one specific victim, who used to be an assistant of the former Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay. He was referring to Monalisa Bernardo who was victimized on March 21 by motorcycle-riding criminals.
Meanwhile, various motorcycle groups opposed the law due to several reasons. Many said that it is unsafe and could potentially be a safety hazard.
The president agrees with the safety precaution and sought to suspend the law last Saturday. He also said that the fines for such violations were ‘too high’
Violators of the said law will be fined P50,000 to P100.000 pesos with six months to six years imprisonment.
Presidential Spokesperson also admitted that the president may have been confused into believing that putting number plates on specific areas of the motorcycle can potentially harm the riders.
According to the Philstar article, Salvador Panelo said that “Gordon said the number plate could be a sticker so fears that it could injure a rider when detached are baseless.”
And concerning the pricey penalty, he said that “…if the penalty is hefty, I don’t think anybody will still violate.”
That is all there is to it for now. We’ll post updates as soon as we got them.
