Motorcycle rider groups who have threatened to file a declaratory relief against the newly-enacted Republic Act 11235 or the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act have failed to rattle Senator Dick Gordon, the principal author and sponsor of the law.
Gordon said the Philippines is a free country and rider groups could go to the courts anytime if they believe there is a need to do so.
“This is a well-researched law na dumaan sa dalawang kapulungan ng Kongreso. Nagsagawa ng mga hearings para dito. Si Presidente Duterte ay isa ring biker, pero pinirmahan niya dahil naintindihan niya na ang pakay ng batas na ito ay bigyang proteksyon ang publiko laban sa riding-in-tandems na pumapatay o nagnanakaw,” the chairman of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights said.
“This is a well-researched law.”
“But this is a free country and they can go to the courts any time. Hindi naman ako ang matatalo kapag pumunta sila sa korte. Ang bayan ang matatalo kasi this is the first time that the government will take action against riding-in-tandem criminals. Riding in tandem criminals have been a plague for this country for the past 15 years and constitute one of the biggest contributors to EJK (extra judicial killing) that everybody is complaining about,” the seasoned legislator added.
“This is the first time that the government will take action against riding-in-tandem criminals.”
The Motorcycle Rights Organization has announced plans to file for declaratory relief against the law, but only when they have already seen the implementing rules and regulations. They claimed to have enough argument to prove before the courts that the passage of the recently signed law was unconstitutional and had been railroaded.
“Paano natin mabibigyan ng hustisya ang mga libo-libong biktima ng riding-in-tandems? Itong batas na ito ang binibigay kong solusyon. Tatanggalin o lilimitahan natin ang pagkakataon para pumatay of magnakaw with impunity gamit ang motorsiklo. Dahil magiging bigger, readable at color-coded ang mga plaka, madali na itong makikita ng mga witnesses or makikita nai ito sa CCTV (closed circuit television) kaya magkakaroon ng lead ang mga pulis,” the veteran lawmaker stressed.
Records from the Philippine National Police (PNP) showed that of the total of 28,409 motorcycle riding crimes or incidents reported from 2010 to 2017, some 13,062 or 46 percent of which were shooting incidents. And out of over 4,000 motorcycle riding crimes or incidents in 2016, only eight cases (0.18 percent) have been solved.
Based on records from the PNP-Highway Patrol Group, there were about 150 motorcycles stolen every week in Metro Manila alone or an average of 21 per day in 2017. In different parts of the country, there were 7,517 vehicles stolen, 6,956 were motorcycles.
