ILOILO City – The Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) has so far not made any arrests or fined violators of the policy requiring dividers or barriers for motorcycles with back-riders.
“Puro warning pa lang. We are still waiting for the implementing rules and regulations (IRR),” said Police Colonel Eric Dampal, city police director.
Motorcycles with back-riders must have plastic shields that separate the driver from the back-rider.
Dampal said the ICPO would start apprehending violators once the IRR is out.
The barrier aims to ensure physic al distancing between the driver and back-rider to prevent the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the coronavirus disease 2019.
Dampal also said the driver and back-rider must be a couple, either married or live-in partners.
They must show proof of this, he added, as required by the national government’s Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID).
Both driver and back-rider are also required to wear personal protective equipment such as facemask or face shield, and helmet.
It was previously announced by the national government that motorcycle riders have until July 26 only to install either a prototype plastic shield as proposed by Bohol governor Arthur Yap or a barrier designed by motorcycle ride-hailing platform Angkas.
Violators would be fined for P500.
Over 7,000 motorcycle riders across the country have been given warnings since July 10 when the government announced it was allowing pillion riding only for married couples or live-in partners, the Joint Task Force COVID Shield (JTF COVID) revealed.
Police Lieutenant General Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, JTF COVID Shield commander, said the 7,091 violators recorded as of July 18 showed the government’s resolve./PN