Starting July 20, the government will strictly impose the use of motorcycle barriers in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said on Wednesday.
Authorities started allowing couples and live-in partners living in one household to ride the same motorcycle provided they have a barrier between rider and passenger, and can provide IDs or documents to prove that they are indeed married or partners.
But alongside this policy, the government reiterated that barriers must be in place or riders risk apprehension from checkpoints set up by the Joint Task Force (JTF) COVID Shield.
Sec. Ano, vice chairman of the National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19, confirmed that motorcycle owners will be given one week to comply with the regulations, and will be given reminders for now. But by Monday next week, authorities will be on the look out for riders and passengers without barriers. Violators will be flagged down and apprehended.
“Ngayon sinisita at kino-cautionan sila. Starting Monday magpapatupad na JTF -SHIELD ng panghuhuli,” says Año.
As of this week, the government has approved two barrier/shield designs. The first one features a transparent divider mounted on the motorcycle with safety handles for passengers, designed by
Bohol Gov. Arthur Yap. The other design was proposed by ride-hailing app Angkas, a smaller backpack-type shield that is worn by the rider.
Sec. Año assures that experts have studied the two designs and both are safe to use. – Mer Layson