A lawmaker has urged the government to acquire the safety barriers that motorcycle riders had bought in order for them to recover the money that they could have spent on food or medicine now that barriers are no longer required under the less restrictive general community quarantine (GCQ).
“Now, what do we do with all those motorcycle barriers which cost hundreds or up to thousands of pesos depending on the design?” AKO Bicol Partylist Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr. said.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said that motorcycle barriers are no longer required for those who are living in the same household in areas under GCQ.
“I hope the national government can acquire all of those contraptions and in exchange they can give the motorcycle riders any of these options depending on what the government can afford,” Garbin said.
The lawmaker suggested that the government could return the money by deducting the amount of the barrier from the fees of vehicle registration, driver’s license application or fines for traffic violation.
An alternative, according to Garbin, is to provide them with equivalent amount of grocery items under the Diskuwento caravan of the Department of Trade and Industry.
The government allowed couples to use motorcycles due to the lack of public transportation provided they will use safety barriers in order to protect them from the dreaded virus.