Senator Dick Gordon strongly condemned the recent killings by riding-in-tandem assassins of a labor officer of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Manila, a judge in Ilocos Sur and a police officer in Quezon City.
“The police must finally look at these killings; these motorcycle-riding in tandem cowards are killing with impunity. They killed an officer of DOLE, a woman at that, in the very streets of Manila, the capital city of our country and in broad daylight too. The next day, a policeman and a judge were killed in other areas too,” Gordon said.
Dacanay, who was assigned at the DOLE’s Manila field office, was shot in Malate. She was rushed to a nearby hospital but was declared dead on arrival.
Meanwhile, Judge Mario Anacleto Banez, of RTC Branch 25 in Tagudin, Ilocos Sur was on his way home when still unidentified assailants shot him in Barangay Mameltac in San Fernando City around 5:40 p.m. last Tuesday. He was also declared dead on arrival at the hospital.
Police Lieutenant Ernesto Mendoza, on the other hand, was killed on the spot in Teachers Village, Quezon City when gunmen on a motorcycle shot him while he was driving his car around 8:10 pm of the same day.
“Do not to turn Republic Act 11235 into a dead-letter law.”
With almost 20,000 victims of riding-in-tandem assassins since 2010, the veteran legislator called on the Land Transportation Office (LTO) not to turn Republic Act 11235 or the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act of 2019 into a dead-letter law through its failure to finish drafting the law’s implementing rules and regulations (IRR).
The law, enacted last March 8, mandated the LTO to promulgate the IRR, to implement the law, within a non-extendible period of ninety days from its effectivity, which is 15 days after the completion of its publication either in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines.
Records from the Philippine National Police (PNP) showed that 13,062 or 46% of the 28,409 motorcycle riding crimes or incidents reported from 2010 to 2017 were shooting incidents. The PNP has yet to provide an updated report as of posting.
News monitoring by Gordon’s office showed that there have been 398 victims of motorcycle-riding gunmen reported from Jan. 1 to Nov. 5 this year. Of the 398 victims, 258 were civilians; 64 were government employees; 31 were police officers; two were military officers; 9 were judges, lawyers and prosecutors; 28 were businessmen; five were journalists and one was a religious leader.
“There is an urgent need to implement this law to stop these crimes.”
“Where is the IRR for the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act? Riding-in-tandem assassins are still terrorizing the country. There is no time to tarry; there is an urgent need to implement this law to stop these crimes,” he said.
“The law aims to secure and safeguard the citizenry from crimes committed with the use of motorcycles through imposing bigger, readable and color-coded number plates to make it easier for eyewitnesses to identify the number plates of motorcycles used in crimes that they witness,” Gordon stressed.
“This will make everyone safe. Madalas walang number plate ‘yung ginagamit sa krimen, dito sa batas na ito, hindi na pwedeng ibiyahe ng walang plaka ang motor. One of the salient features of the law is that motorcycles travelling without number plates will be flagged down and fined. Kapag ninakaw ang plate number dapat i-report within three days, ‘pag di nireport ng may-ari, makakasuhan siya,” he added.