HUNDREDS of motorcycle riders in Cebu have supported the move to amend a new law requiring bigger license plates.
Tony Dedace of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) led a gathering of motorcycle riders, who are workers, at the Cebu Business Hotel in Cebu City on Sunday, April 7.
For his part, Robert Perillo of the Bulacan Motorcycle Riders Federation told SunStar Cebu that they are against Republic Act (RA) 11235, or the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act, because of its exorbitant penalty.
The law mandates the Land Transportation Office to produce motorcycle plates that are “readable from the front, back, and the side from the distance of at least 15 meters.”
Perillo said the fine—P50,000 to P100,000 per violation—is too much for ordinary workers, who opted to drive motorcycles so they could save on their daily expenses.
The law was passed following a series of ambushes carried out by gunmen riding on motorbikes.
For the law’s author Sen. Richard Gordon, the bigger license plates could help investigators in identifying the motorcycles used by riding-in-tandem assassins.
RA 11235 was signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte last month.
When Duterte attended a recent convention of the National Federation of Motorcycle Clubs of the Philippines in Iloilo City, he ordered the Land Transportation Office to suspend the implementation of the law.
The President also promised to meet Gordon to convince the lawmaker to amend the law to lower the penalty and remove the provision of an additional license plate in front of the motorcycle. (EOB)