Inquirer
Last updated 10:24pm (Mla time) 06/28/2007
MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Thursday there was no need for motorcycle riders to wear the license plate numbers of their vehicles on their helmets.
Chief Superintendent Errol Pan, the PNP Traffic Management Group (TMG) director and a motorcycle rider, said the new regulation being studied by the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) would not make catching motorcycle-riding criminals any easier.
“There’s no need to put the license plate numbers on the helmets. There is already a license plate on the vehicle. This will add confusion to law enforcement and the general public,” Pan told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.
He said criminals did not usually wear helmets because these could obstruct their vision. Also, the criminals can simply exchange helmets in a bid to elude police, Pan said.
He added that imposing the new helmet regulation would “add a burden” to motorcycle owners.
Instead, Pan said license plates on motorcycles should come with a seal similar to the ones used on electric meters to prevent tampering.
He said a no-nonsense enforcement of traffic laws by the MMDA would be a better alternative.
Pan also boasted that the PNP has been successful in curbing crimes involving motorcycle riders even without the new scheme.
The TMG is usually the first unit to be alerted on criminals because of their mobile deployment around Metro Manila.
On Wednesday, the Motorcycle Philippines Federation opposed the new MMDA measure.
The motorcycle riders threatened to stage a rally along EDSA against any ordinance imposing criminal liability on riders who fail to indicate their license plates on their helmets.
Jojo Medina of the MPF said the new measure was wrong and that police should beef up their crime fighting capability rather than “impose a new hard-line policy.”
But MMDA Chair Bayani Fernando said the new measure was good to go.
He said they would study the MPF’s concern but appealed to the group not to go on with their plan to block EDSA.
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