MANILA, Philippines — Sen. JV Ejercito is optimistic that the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act can be amended to correct provisions that he said are "a little disriminatory" towards riders who face penalties for failing to transfer registration of units within five days of buying a motorbike.
No equivalent penalty exists for drivers using vehicles not registered under their name.
Related Stories
Speaking to Super Radyo dzBB on Sunday, Ejercito — who apologized in 2019 for supporting passage of the pet bill of then Sen. Rishard Gordon — said that "in my view, especially in its implementation, it is a little discriminatory."
He said that motorcyclists have been flagged down at checkpoints and have had to wait for close to an hour to be cleared by police. "It is only the riders, only those on motorcycles who are flagged down," he said in Filipino.
He said that it would be better for the Land Transportation Office to focus on meeting a backlog of motorcycle license plates, saying he has been waiting for five years to get the license plate of one of his motorcycles.
Rode this morning with the idol Ely Buendia & Jay of Kamikazee and the Cruiserheads! pic.twitter.com/Gg0r0ZD80s
— JV Ejercito (@jvejercito) February 26, 2023
"What is more important is that all motorcycles have license plates. As it is right now, there are around 14 million motorcycles that do not have license plates," he said.
Broken down, around nine million have old plates that have to be replaced with new ones required by the new law and five million that have yet to be issued plates.
"If we double the number of plates, then that will mean a longer backlog."
The Committee on Justice and Human Rights held a hearing on proposed amendments to the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act — also known as the "Doble Plaka" law for the requirement to put another license plate on the front of the motorycle, a move that motorcyclists said might put them at risk of accidents — and Ejercito said the panel might hold one more hearing before releasing its committee report on the proposal.
Motorcycles are a popular form of transportation in the Philippines, especially in places where public transportation options are limited. The rise of delivery and motorcycle taxi apps has also meant that more people bought motorcycles to help them earn a living.
RELATED: Unions: Delivery riders and WFH staff need more protection, louder voice in welfare decisions
Ejercito seeks lower fine
Ejercito filed a bill to amend the "Doble Plaka" law in July 2022 to lower the fines for failure to transfer ownership registration and to replace the second license plate with an RFID sticker that he said would not interfere with a motorcycle's aerodynamics.
"Though the intention of this law was good, the fines and penalties are somewhat too excessive to the point of being discriminatory to motorcycle riders," he said in his explanatory note.
"It is worth [noting] that most of motorcycle owners are, of course, those who can not afford a car. Meaning they either lead a humble and simple life, or even trying to make ends meet," he said.
A counterpart bill has been filed at the House by Rep. Julienne Baronda (Iloilo City), who noted that "the penalties provided [in the law] are not at par with fines imposed against car owners having the same violation."
Ejercito said Sunday that the current fine for violating the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act can go to as much as P100,000, which, he pointed out, is as much as the sticker price on some commuter motorcycles.
In 2019, President Rodrigo Duterte deferred implementation of the law, which riders' groups had long called out as discriminatory, for a year.