Police mull helmet tagging for motorcycle riders

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — After a series of assaults on persons and properties by motorcycle-riding men in the metropolis, all motorcycle drivers and passengers will soon be required to have their helmets tagged with the plate number of their vehicles.

This was the latest proposal raised by the Police Regional Office-6 (PRO-6) and the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) in a meeting of the city's Peace and Order Council yesterday.

Chief Supt. Cipriano Querol, PRO-6 director, and Sr. Supt. Marietto Valerio, ICPO director, told the council that they will ask the Iloilo City Council to pass an ordinance requiring all motorcycle riders to put their plate number in front of their crash helmets.

They said this will be part of the police anti-crime efforts, especially on solving crime incidents.

The motorcycle's plate number printed on the helmets will be reflectorized for easy identification. "We don't say that it could really lower down crime incidents but it will be a big boost to our crime-solution efficiency," Valerio said.

If the plan will push through, Valerio said that police personnel would be deployed to checkpoints in strategic areas of the city. 

"We could immediately spot those who follow and those who defy the ordinance. We would also be checking riders to ensure that they wear helmets tagged with the appropriate plate number of their motorcycle," he said.

Valerio however was unsure of the reactions of the members of the City Council on the helmet tagging proposal.

Iloilo City recorded a number of crime incidents involving motorcycle-riding men. Last January 26 men on a motorcycle lobbed a grenade that hit the garage of the house of lawyer Edeljulio Romero. He has been known for handling high-profile drug cases in the city.

Last May 10, a grenade was hurled and exploded at the century-old ancestral house of Land Transportation Office regional director Gerard Camiña at Osmeña St., in Brgy. Sta. Filomena, Arevalo district. The blast damaged the rear portion of his car and punched a hole at a portion of his garage.

Then on August 30, motorcycle-riding men, wearing helmets, shot dead a real estate agent in broad daylight at a busy street of Ledesma in the city. The area was teeming with people, but no one identified the assailant of the victim Richard Cezar.

The latest incident, in September 5, involved men riding in tandem on a motorcycle who threw a grenade at the newly built Bali Hotel, owned by newspaper publisher and Iloilo Press Club president Rommel Ynion.

No suspect has been arrested and charged in court for these incidents. - THE FREEMAN