A few weeks ago, the MMDA announced that it was set to implement a regulation obligating motorcycle riders to sport their plate numbers on their helmets. This, they said, was to address the rising statistic of crimes perpetuated by motorcycle-riding outlaws.
As expected, the announcement was made by the agency’s henchmen, not by the chairman; although the scheme was classic BF in its insensitivity and heavy handedness. (Remember, this is the same guy who said that people with disability would best stay at home!) Chairman BF only conjures these absurd schemes, he never owns up to them. He doesn’t even have the gall (or the balls) to face the very people whom he is supposed to be serving. Such is this guy’s arrogance.
You cannot pick a sector and make them bear the penalty for inept and inadequate law enforcement. Even if the motorcycle can be proven to be the criminal’s vehicle of choice (no such study has ever been presented), it is unreasonable to penalize ordinary, law-abiding citizens who happen to prefer this mode of transportation. This is analogous to prohibiting or regulating the use of knives because the kill people. If this is the pattern of thought that exists in government, we might as well ban the use of lighters since these are essential drug paraphernalia.
Not only are motorcycle owners stigmatized but are saddled with the added burden of allocating “one helmet per motorcycle” since, obviously, two bikes won’t sport the same license plates!
To add to this inanity, Manila’s Dirty Harry proposed his own “no tandem riding” amendment to the proposed ordinance. (I underscore the word proposed because rumor has it that it is already being implemented by certain over zealous elements of Makati traffic.) I would no longer expound on the merits (or lack of) of this amendment especially since it comes from the same official whose “war on drugs” effort consists solely of painting derogatory signs on suspected (read, non-affiliated) drug dealers’ and users’ homes; all without the benefit of due process!
The only thing these ordinances would accomplish would be to afford law enforcers yet another opportunity to fleece the motoring public.
Before I sign off, let me state that I do not own, drive or ride tandem on a motorcycle (and nobody in my immediate family does) and this regulation would not affect me in any way except in the knowledge that, if implemented, this is another right taken away from us.
Consider this (inscribed on a plaque on the stairwell of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty)…
“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
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