With the spate of riding-in-tandem crimes in the country, Sen. Richard Gordon on Sunday urged the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to finish drafting the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act of 2019 or Republic Act 11235 so that the law could be swiftly implemented.

“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,” Gordon said in a statement.

Gordon, who sponsored and authored the law, said that the law’s objective is “to protect the public 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.”

The law also states that “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” for easy identification.

“One of the salient features of the law is that motorcycles traveling without number plates will be flagged down and fined. If number plates are stolen, these should be reported within three days or else the owner will be liable,” he said.

Several shooting incidents were also reported recently as Department of Labor and Employment field officer Ellen Dacanay was shot dead in Manila on 4 November, while 5 November saw two killings with the ambush of Ilocos Sur Judge Mario Anacleto Bañez in San Fernando, La Union and Police Lt. Ernesto Mendoza in Barangay Teachers Village, Quezon City.