DAVAO CIO

THE SENATOR who authored a law penalizing the use of motorcycles in the commission of crimes has refuted a claim made by a presidential aspirant that it discriminates against riders.  

Senator Richard J. Gordon, in a statement on Tuesday, said reports that criminals are simply circumventing the law by using metal number plates were “fake news.”   

Mr. Gordon authored Republic Act 11235 or the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act, which seeks to deter crimes by motorcycle-riding perpetrators through the issuance of bigger and color-coded plates and identification marks, among other measures.  

Based on data released by his office early this year, riding-in-tandem crimes dropped to 824 from Jan. to May in 2020 from an annual average of 3,000 to 4,000 from 2016 to 2019.    

“The law seeks to protect the general public, including motorcycle riders, from crimes committed using motorcycles as getaway vehicle, such as extrajudicial killings, and to give justice to the dead men who can tell no tales,” he said.   

The senator’s statement was issued after Aksyon Demokratiko standard-bearer and Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko” M. Domagoso called for a review of the law signed in March 2019, tagging it as discriminatory since it puts motorcyclists at a disadvantage.    

Mr. Domagoso cited complaints from riders that they are subjected to more thorough inspection at checkpoints than those in cars. — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan 

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