GORDON EMPHASIZES R.A. 11235 COULD HELP SOLVE MOTORCYCLE- RELATED CRIMES; WANTS RIDING-IN-TANDEM CRIMINALS ARRESTED

With the increasing number of motorcycle riding-in-tandem-related crimes in the country, Senator Richard J. Gordon stated on Sunday that motorcycle riding assassins should be arrested and stressed that such wrongdoing should be stopped at once as the safety of the people is of the utmost importance above all.

Gordon has been condemning the killings committed by motorcycle riders and consistently reiterating his call for the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to finish drafting the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act of 2019 or R.A. 11235, which he sponsored and authored, so that the law could be implemented immediately.

As Gordon explained, the law's objective is "to protect the public, and 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."

According to the law, "the readable number plates must be displayed in both the front and back sides of a motorcycle and shall be made of suitable and durable material as determined by the LTO."

Gordon added that the law will make everyone safe.

"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 said.

Gordon expressed concern over the high rate of murder cases in the country involving the use of motorbikes. According to the data of the Philippine National Police (PNP), 13,062 of the 28,409 motorcycle riding incidents reported from 2010 to 2017 involved killings.

One of the controversial reported assassinations related to riding-in-tandem incidents was the ambush of activist-lawyer Benjie Ramos who was killed in November last year in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental after helping the families of nine farmers who were shot dead by unknown attackers in the province.

Several shooting incidents were also reported recently.

Ellen Dacanay, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) field officer, was shot dead in Manila on November 4.

Ilocos Sur Judge Mario Anacleto Bañez was killed in ambush in San Fernando, La Union, while Police Lieutenant Ernesto Mendoza was shot and killed by gunmen on a motorcycle in Barangay Teachers Village, Quezon City. Both were murdered on November 5.

And just last Thursday, November 7, radio broadcaster Dindo Generoso from Dumaguete City was fired by gunmen who were arrested just hours ago after the incident.

Gordon strongly condemned these assassinations.

"The police should really act with dispatch to solve these killings; these motorcycle-riding in tandem cowards are killing with impunity. They fearlessly execute people even in broad daylight and in plain view of witnesses because they can get away easily," he said.