DOTC to have forum on motorcycle restrictions

MANILA, Philippines - Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Assistant Secretary Dante M. Lantin invited motoring media to discuss the growing number of crimes committed using motorcycles or the so-called riding-in-tandem modus operandi, which not only affects ordinary citizen but also the regular motorcycle-riding public.

“The plan of some local government units to execute measures that will address the riding-in-tandem will affect the ordinary riders themselves,” he said.

The LGUs are reacting to the issue of the proliferation of crimes committed by motorcycles ridden in tandem. Some LGUs are planning to ban riding-in-tandem for ordinary citizens, requiring them to use vests with markings even on the helmets, which was opposed by some groups in the past.

“This specific measure of putting identifying marks in the helmet and in the vest, off-hand my personal take on the matter, is it will only be a venue or an opening to warrant the proliferation of unauthorized plate numbers or imagined plate numbers that are placed on the helmet or vest that doesn’t match the real plate number,” he added.

Regarding the ban on riding-in-tandem, the secretary said that the DOTC came out with a policy that motorcycles must have only two riders, but is against making the motorcycle as a family carriage.

“Making it to one rider may run counter to our policy. That’s the first we have to resolve because if this is implemented, then surely the DOTC will be asked what happened to our policy?” he said.

According to the DOTC the registered motorcycles in 2013 is at 3 million. Asec. Lantin believes that a very miniscule percentage of the population has criminal motives.

A forum, which will be hosted by the DOTC, will invite LGUs, the PNP, motorcycle club representatives, and other concerned citizens to resolve the issue of the LGUs in restricting motorcycle users and to address the so-called criminal-on-a-motorcycle to ultimately protect both the riding and non-riding public.