Motorcyclists’ lament: Why the discrimination?

Indeed, motorcycle owners and enthusiasts have a point to prove in calling out government authorities, in particular the Philippine National Police (PNP), for treating them as “second-class citizens” as to the implementation of national and local laws when, under the Constitution, everyone is supposed to be treated equal.

Probably, the framers of such laws and regulations didn’t put too much thought into what they were crafting, resulting in something that is being criticized as “highly discriminatory” by concerned parties.

Representatives of the Motorcycle Rights Organization, Transport Watch Philippines and Riders of the Philippines (which are among several motorcycle groups that abound in the country promoting the rights of their membership) claim that such existing strictures tend to regard two-wheel drivers as “criminals” thereby inviting unnecessary scrutiny from law enforcement authorities.

“In effect, motorcyclists have been turned into moving targets that the police can train their sights on,” one obviously-harassed rider confided to us. “Their treatment of us is like we’re below the level of cars, buses, trucks, taxicabs and even tricycles, would you believe? Ironically, we all pay taxes.”

He said further this could be hazardous to life and limb of untold numbers of legitimate motorcyclists who have learned to love their bike as it represents freedom from the horrible clutches of the eternal gridlock encompassing Metro Manila on a 24/7 basis since.

(Unfortunately, there is very little or no public sympathy at all for their plight owing to a distressing report from the PNP that for the past seven months (October 2017 to May 2018) there have been 880 shooting incidents nationwide that are all attributable to motorcycle-riding criminals.

But being a motorcycle rider myself, I can say the unfair treatment is clearly evident in the checkpoints being set up in the metropolis by the PNP any time they please. Motorcycle riders who have the misfortune of coming across their path are made to alight and are subjected to the fine-tooth-comb treatment while four-wheel vehicles are allowed to go on their merry way.

During a television interview, PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde stressed one of the most important tips a motorist should remember about a police checkpoint is that it should be done in a well-lighted area with uniformed personnel and “you should not open your glove compartment, trunk or bags.”

Surprise, surprise! Nothing of the sort at this QCPD checkpoint I encountered last April some four weeks ago at the crossing of New York and Ermin Garcia streets in Cubao.

Together with four other hapless victims, I was asked to alight (in fairness, polite naman ang kanilang dating) my motorcycle and told to open the cavity. Well, it took me a few minutes to do this because I was fumbling about in the dimly-lit roadside with a cop asking a lot of probing questions; and all the while there were private cars and taxis just whizzing past us.

Kunsabagay, Albayalde tried to justify why motorcycles are being treated differently from four-wheel vehicles. Motorcycles, he rationalized, are most often used in the commission of crimes, and most of those arrested at checkpoints had guns, drugs, etc. inside their compartments. Also, most often, criminals do not possess any registration papers since the motorcycles are usually stolen.

But this doesn’t justify existing regulations in certain towns and cities requiring riders to use only open face helmets instead of the full face types because this might endanger their safety on the road. In advanced countries, only full face helmets are allowed to spare the rider from serious injury. “A small pebble or stone can easily bring to ground a motorcyclist wearing only an open face helmet.”

Yeah, small comfort this is to literally millions of bona fide and law abiding motorcycle owners, riders, etc. like myself, which is why there is this pressing need to secure for ourselves road equality, respect and safety.

Then, you have this anti-motorcycle law, the largely-inutile Motorcycle Helmet Act of 2009 (RA 10054) which isn’t being implemented uniformly throughout the archipelago. Statistics say that there are some 16 million motorcycles plying the roads to date, but the thing here is that many riders still move about wearing substandard helmets or none at all.

In Central Luzon, the Land Transportation Office says 70 percent of motorcycle riders don’t wear helmets that they consider as burdensome, which is just fine with the police and local authorities because this lightens their job of apprehending malefactors, considering that most criminals like using motorcycles for easier getaway purposes. And to hell with safety considerations.

There is a lot of confusion nowadays in the proper enforcement of RA 10054 that is giving the law enforcers a lot of headaches, and two big cities which shun the Helmet Law are Dumaguete City and Cagayan de Oro City. Here, they say it is impractical since the streets are so narrow and crowded thus one is forced to go slow anyway, ergo no need for helmets. And then, the safety gear are also too expensive for the ordinary probinsiyano that he’d rather use the money on something more useful.

Back in 2014, Mandaluyong City Mayor Benhur Abalos made a big production about the passage of Ordinance No. 550 that prohibits back riders on all motorcycles in city limits. He said this is to deter criminals, whose vehicle of choice is a motorcycle, from sowing trouble in the community (supposedly patterned after a law in Colombia). Initially, the enforcement of the ordinance was quite vigorous, with Abalos in person going around the city streets making apprehensions, but after a while this tapered off and things went back to the way they were.

So now, the looney city law is merely a memory. But such a bad memory, because the law that discriminates against male back riders is still in effect, which is a testament to the knee-jerk mentality of Mayor Abalos and his knack for the big palabas.

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