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SOURCE: Press and Public Affairs Bureau

Riding-in-Tandem Interdiction Act of 2012 to help arrest criminality: Castelo
Writer: Dionisio P. Tubianosa, Media Relations Service
13 November 2012 09:52:39 AM


With the phenomenal rise in street crimes involving the use of motorcycles, a lawmaker is seeking the passage of the "Riding in Tandem Interdiction Act of 2012" to promote public security and welfare.

"The bottom line is public interest. We have to give our law enforcement agencies a stronger legal framework so they can effectively and efficiently respond to this riding in tandem phenomenon," Rep. Winston Castelo, author of HB 5720, said.

Castelo is urging the House Committee on Public Order and Security to hasten the passage of HB 5720 which would authorize the Philippine National Police to "adopt a strategic policy against criminals riding in tandem on motorcycles thereby rationalizing more aggressive interdiction operations."

"It shall be the strategic policy of the PNP to adopt more aggressive interdiction operations against street crimes and persons riding in tandem on motorcycles and are likely involved and are responsible for serial crimes or even for high-profile criminal activities," the Castelo bill provides.

Because of the rising statistics on crimes involving motorcycle riding criminals, the lawmaker noted that the PNP responded through a program dubbed, "Motorized Anti-Street Crime Operatives Program" of the National Capital Region Police Office.

"We have noted that the riding-in-tandem crime incidents are not isolated in the NCR but also recorded in Central Luzon, Central Visayas and other regions in the past two years. This crime wave continues to rise," Castelo lamented.

Citing statistics, Castelo noted that 1,700 crime incidents were committed against 2,089 on the streets last year, higher than the 1,565 incident recorded in 2010 against 1,619 victims.

"The PNP theorized rightly that criminal elements have taken advantage of the high-speed mobility provided by motorcycles as effective instruments of crime. Arrested suspects were found to be involved in strings of robbery, car theft, and even murder cases," Castelo pointed out.

This measure, Castelo said, is intended to strengthen or at least, lends authority to certain counter-measures already initiated by the PNP in order to stem the tide of such serial street crimes or increased notoriety of criminals or their syndicates in bigger or more high-profile crimes.

Castelo even cited PNP Director General Nicanor Bartolome who said that "for every riding in tandem suspect neutralized, several crimes are solved", thus making no false allusion to the fact that only an effective ban against riding-in-tandem could be the most efficient way to curb criminality and lawlessness.

"There could be some resistance or legal issues that may crop up which must be weighed against the paramount concern of public or general welfare," Castelo said.

 
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