GORDON STRESSED NOW IS THE RIGHT TIME TO IMPLEMENT MOTORCYCLE CRIME PREVENTION LAW AS NUMBER OF CRIMES COMMITTED BY RIDING-IN-TANDEM ASSASSINS REMAINS TO INCREASE

Senator Richard J. Gordon stated Wednesday that now is the right time to implement Republic Act No. 11235 or the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Law as the number of crimes committed by riding-in-tandem assassins continue to rise.

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 that the 15 individuals from the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) who were killed were mostly done 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.

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 by two gunmen onboard a motorcycle in Quezon City.

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 (LTO) to come up with its implementing rules and regulations (IRR) 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. Hindi tayo dapat napapatay ng kahit sino. Hindi tayo papayag dito sa Senado na hindi ma-solve ang mga kasong 'yan. Mas marami pang pinatay ang riding-in-tandem kaysa sa Coronavirus at hindi nakakatawa 'yan," Gordon said.

According to the news monitoring of Gordon's office, there are 64 riding-in-tandem cases in the country from January 1 to March 4 of this year alone. Most of which are civilians with 37 cases, while 12 victims were government employees.