The Land Transportation Office (LTO) has placed 19 motorcycles under alarm following an illegal racing incident on a bypass road in San Rafael, Bulacan.

LTO chief Assistant Secretary Vigor Mendoza II announced Thursday that the agency has issued show cause orders to the registered owners of all the motorcycles, summoning them to the LTO Central Office in Quezon City on 27 August.

The motorcycles were impounded after a police operation on the Mabalas-Balas-Galas-Maasim Bypass Road on 17 August. According to a police report, those involved were engaged in illegal exhibitions, driving without licenses or helmets and using motorcycles without license plates.

Mendoza expressed outrage that 12 of the individuals involved were minors, some as young as 7 years old. The operation resulted in the arrest of 12 people, while the 12 minors, aged 7 to 16, were taken into custody.

“Aside from racing on a public road where four-wheel vehicles also pass, we learned that these people were also performing motorcycle exhibitions, including the children,” Mendoza said.