Over 7K back-riding, COVID-19 barrier violations recorded

MANILA: It appears that two new rules relevant to the government effort to fight the spread of COVID-19 in the streets are falling on deaf ears for many motorcycle riders. In a Philippine News Agency report, a total of 7,091 moto riders “have been given warnings since the government allowed pillion riding only for married couples or live-in partners on July 10.” This is according to the Joint Task Force COVID Shield (JTF COVID) yesterday.

In a Philippine News Agency (PNA) report, JTF COVID shield commander Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar said that the tally as of July 18 showed government’s seriousness in implementing the two rules for back riding: “That there must be installed barriers that pass the safety standard of the National Task Force (NTF) for COVID-19, and the riders must be married or living-in couples.”

Eleazar rued in a statement that while government had granted the request of motorcycle riders to allow at least their partners to back-ride with them due to limited public transportation, some moto riders “openly and brazenly disregarded the rules that the government was asking from them in return to ensure their safety from coronavirus infection.”

The official narrated that most of the violators were caught back-riding with “other relatives, friends, neighbors and other people,” and that of the 7,091 violators, “6,476 were not only couples but also with no installed barriers while 615 riders have barriers but were not couple or live-in partners.”

The PNA article noted that Central Visayas has the biggest number of violators (1,755), followed by Bicol (741), Western Visayas (737), and Central Luzon (675).

Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año said that beginning July 27, violators will be issued tickets. He also reminded that couples on motorcycles need to bring documents to prove they are married or are common-law partners.

Motorcycle riders thus only have until July 26 for ensure compliance through the installation of either a “prototype plastic shield as proposed by Bohol Governor Arthur Yap or a barrier designed by motorcycle ride-hailing platform Angkas,” according to Eleazar. “Let us allow the government to slowly implement these rules in order to ensure that everybody would comply and at the same time, for our law enforcers on the ground not to be overwhelmed by the large number of violators which was actually recorded in just a few days after pillion riding was allowed," he said.

Aside from the two aforementioned policies, moto riders will be apprehended for “other violations including non-wearing of helmets.”

Photo from the Department of Transportation

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