MANILA: Some members of the Senate Wednesday supported efforts to amend the 'repressive' and potentially unsafe Republic Act (RA) 11235, locally known as 'Double Plaka' Act. In his interpellation of Senate Bill (SB) 2555, which seeks to amend RA 11235, Senator Robinhood Padilla said the current law does not seem to achieve its goal of stopping "riding-in-tandem" crimes. "Ako po ay isa sa mga rider na umaasa na magkaroon ng pagbabago sa batas na ito sapagka't hindi ito talaga nakatulong sa anumang usapin (I am one of the riders who are hoping for amendments to this law, which in many respects does not help)," he said. Padilla said the Land Transportation Office (LTO) may not be able to implement the law properly because while some 1.4 million motorcycles are registered, more than 10 million are not. "Kaya kung ito ang sinasabi mismo ng LTO na di nila maimplement, siguro dapat nang baguhin ang Doble Plaka law (If the LTO could not implement it, perhaps it is time to amend the Doble Plaka law)," he said. Pa dilla also cited a potential threat to riders if the Doble Plaka law requires them to mount plates on the front and back of their motorcycles, which are not designed to accommodate a license plate in the front. "Meron ding issue ang ating rider sa safety ng rider. Meron din bang issue patungkol sa full force wind blast? Tumatama yan sa mukha mo (There is also the issue of safety -there is an issue of full force wind blast that hits the rider in the face)," he said. Senator Francis Tolentino, one of the authors and the sponsor of SB 2555, cited data from the Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group showing that out of 1.4 million registered motorcycles as of October 2023, a minuscule 57 were linked to "riding-in-tandem" crimes. Tolentino said the law would negatively affect Filipinos who use their motorcycles to bring their wives to work, their children to school, and for their livelihood as delivery riders. "Hindi sila kriminal... Hindi natin sila dapat ituring na kriminal (They are not criminals a nd should not be treated as such)," he said. Aside from this, Tolentino said the LTO suspended the implementation of the law due to a backlog of motorcycle license plates, which reached more than 10 million as of Feb. 29 this year. Senator JV Ejercito, another author of SB 2555, said the backlog is one reason he authored the measure. "Kung may batas na di maimplement, dapat siguro baguhin. Para saan pa yan (If the law cannot be implemented, it must at least be amended. What purpose does it serve)?," he said. Source: Philippines News Agency
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