BACOLOD City – Authorities in this city have yet to implement Department of Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) new order on motorcycle pillion riding.
The new regulation requires the installation on motorcycles 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 the national government’s Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the driver and pillion rider must be a couple (either married or live-in partners).
Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Ariel Pico said the order, which took effect on July 20, cannot be carried out here if they have not yet received the implementing rules and regulations (IRR).
Pico explained that the IRR is very important as it provides the order’s proper guidelines.
Shields are being required for the protection of both the drivers and back-riders from contracting SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019.
Committee on Transportation chairman Councilor Dindo Ramos, for his part, said the Sangguniang Panlungsod has approved a measure allowing pillion riding during this quarantine period but for immediate family members only.
Ramos claimed that the barrier is not necessary for the driver and back-rider as it might put their lives in danger./PN
