After a long time of debating between the people who authored a specific bill, and the people who experience it on a daily basis, our dear President, Rodrigo Duterte, finally made his stand and statement about this specific issue. Our dear President said that it's quite a ridiculous thing to see a motorcycle bearing two (2) license plates.
In fact, he knows the dangers that it can hold; he is aware that this is a dangerous call and that the traffic might get worse instead of it being fixed. This is a different issue from the bigger license plates, though.
Read: Child Safety in Motor Vehicles Law, Signed by President Duterte
Republic Act (R.A.) 11235 or the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act, was signed by President Duterte last March 8, 2019. This, in comparison to the initial request, is just looking for motorcycles to have bigger license plates in order for them to be easily identified by authorities and the public.
What did President Duterte do?
According to our well-known and very much respected President, he was able to have a sit with Senator Richard "Dick" Gordon, who is one of the principal authors of the bill, for them to be able to modify the bill that was passed. This bill is the bill that is asking motorcycles to have two (2) plates.
Presiedent Rodrigo Duterte said this on his 25th speech on the National Federation of the Motorcycle Clubs of the Philippines (NFMCP) annual convention at the Iloilo Convention Center in Iloilo City.
He said that putting an extra license plate at the front of a motorcycle can actually bring in more harm than good. This not only endangers the lives of the motorcycle riders, but also the people around them.
And how did the motorcycle community react when he said his speech? They applauded with joy and excitement because they knew the same thing.
Apparently, our dearest President Rodrigo Duterte is also a rider himself
President Duterte said that he knows and feels the situation/s of all motorcycle riders in the country. With the traffic, the danger, the discipline of Filipino drivers, putting on an extra piece of license plate at the front part of the motorcycle is unnecessary.
Read: Safe Spaces Bill Certified by the Senate
As some sort of a resolution, he asked the riders to have bigger license plates at the back of their motorcycles; license plates that would be easily distinguishable than the current models of the plates. Hence, him signing the Republic Act No. 11235 or the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act last month. However, that's not the end of it...
A few days back, President Rodrigo Duterte has some plans and interest in suspending the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act which he just signed last March 8, 2019.
He continued that the law might not be a very good idea for motorcycle riders.
I will try to convince the LTO (Land Transportation Office) to maybe hang on to it. I will suspend its implementation because the way I see it, it is not good."
To put more emphasis, the President pleaded with what his ideas are in terms of the danger and the effectiveness of putting ANOTHER sharp thing on a motorcycle.
Because it is not good. It is dangerous to place another gadget, especially those with sharp edges like license plates. It could be a plastic or it could be aluminum but still it will pose risk to the rider’s helmet."
He even stressed that the best increase to the size of the rear plate should be just from a fourth of the current normal size of it. President Duterte said that the most important thing in distinguishing a vehicle is through its rear-end plate.
Read: Different Job Opportunities from Different Philippine Government Departments
What about the fines?
Not to mention the fines that could go up from P50, 000.00 to P100, 000.00, our dear President said that these amounts are too lavish for those riders who will be caught not abiding to the bigger license plate rules.
Maybe as a compromise, I’m willing (to lower it to) P10,000 to P15,000."
So, it's frankly quite clear that our dear President has good intentions of keeping our citizens safe from any type of anomaly and danger. By what he did, he's clearly stating facts and awareness to people who are not considerate to what could happen in the near future.
Senator Richard "Dick" Gordon, has something to say
One of the principal authors of this bill, Sen. Richard Gordon, said that he wants the law to be implemented at its fullest. His reason? Well he just wanted to give justice and action to victims of riding-in-tandem shooters and criminals. He said that this is one of the best ways to address this certain issue.
I’m just defending the people who were killed by riding-in-tandem assassins. They can no longer seek justice for themselves. How do we do justice to these people? You limit the way people can get away with riding without motor plates and riding with stolen motorcycles."
Senator Joseph Victor (JV) Ejercito, who is also a known motorcyclist, was eager and was very warm-welcoming in the move to suspend the law that the President already signed. He added that the motorcycling community had confidence and some sort of a relief when Duterte made his directives.
Read: Jaywalkers Will Now be Penalized
For me, it’s more like an imprimatur for the conduct of a thorough study and discussion among stakeholders to fully understand the law, especially the source of complaint and confusion, with the end view of coming up with a common formula to assure the safety of riders while the law’s anti-criminality objective is being achieved."
He added the fact that the Congress and the House had the chance to allow the President to gather his thoughts on the situation; he said that President Duterte is a listening President because he was able to maximize the idea not just to the extent of giving justice to people who were victimized, but also with everyone's safety.
We gave the President a situation and the sentiments of the riders in general towards the recently signed law. The President listened to us attentively. He is a listening President."
What can you say about President Duterte's answer to the installation of 2 license plates on motorcycles? Can this be deemed as a good thing? Or a bad thing? A lot of people agree with the actions and the commands of President Duterte in terms of suspending the act; but would the family of victims be happy of this decision? Would it really bring "justice" to the table?
To Sen. Gordon, is it only motorcycles do those crimes? Cars and other bigger vehicles are mostly used for bigger crimes like kidnapping, rapes, murders, etc. They have 2 plates but are they able to identify all of it? And if you are planning to use the motorcycle for crimes, will you still use your own plates? Come on... Isip isip din... Puto kasi motorsiklo ang pinagtutuunan mo ng pansin