NOW is the right time to implement Republic Act (RA) 11235, or the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Law, as the number of crimes committed by riding-in-tandem assassins continues to rise, Sen. Richard J. Gordon said on Wednesday.
During the continuation of the investigation on the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) Law, Gordon, chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, said the 15 individuals from the Bureau of Corrections who were killed were mostly done in by riding-in-tandem criminals. The most recent case was the assassination of BuCor legal service chief Atty. Fredric Anthony Santos, who was shot dead in Barangay Poblacion, Muntinlupa City by unidentified riding-in-tandem hitmen last month.
Kim Chiu shooting
Just this morning, three cases of riding-in-tandem attacks were reported, including the incident involving Filipina actress Kim Chiu. According to reports, her vehicle was fired on by two gunmen onboard a motorcycle in Quezon City. They quickly sped away, and police probers found seven slugs at the scene, a busy corner at Katipunan and C.P. Garcia Avenues.
Gordon reiterated the need to immediately implement RA 11235 that aims to secure the public from crimes committed using motorcycles. Thus, he called on the Land Transportation Office to come up with its implementing rules and regulations so that the law can be implemented right away.
“Riding-in-tandem assassins are still terrorizing the country. There is no time to tarry; there is an urgent need to implement this law to stop these crimes. [We whould not be gunned down so easily. We cannot accept here in the Senate a non-solution of those crimes. More people have been killed by riding-in-tandem than coronavirus and that is not funny],” Gordon said, in a mix of English and Filipino.
According to news monitoring by Gordon’s office, 64 riding-in-tandem cases in the country were tallied from January 1 to March 4 of this year alone. Most of the victims are civilians (37 cases), while 12 victims were government employees.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes