THINK TALK: HB No. 32 Contemplates to Require Motorcycle Owners Membership with LTO-Accredited Riders’ Club

MATALAM, North Cotabato (MindaNews / 12 August) — First, a parking area should be available before buying a car. This was filed under House Bill No. 31. Now, former House Speaker and Masbate Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velaso filed another bill, House Bill No. 32, requiring motorcycle owners to join LTO-accredited Riders’ Club before they are allowed to apply or renew driver’s license. If this becomes a law, violators shall be fined P100,000.

We wonder at such excessive fines for a new imposition and additional burden for motorcycle owners, not to mention the fact that most, if not all, Riders’ Club require membership fees and monthly or annual fees as the case may be. Not all motorcycle owners are that rich! Not all motorcycle owners would bother to join a riders’ club whose reason for being is very much different from those who use their motorcycles to peddle goods, convert to tricycles, or for livelihood purposes.

My third son and a son-in-law are both members of LTO-accredited riders’ club. They hold regular meetings and occasionally render community services like visiting a sick member or friend and offering some gifts, giving assistance to flood victims, etc. Riders’ clubs require some kind of mandatory attendance at meetings (or face fines for absences) and adherence to club policies. We wonder how a lowly motorcycle owner who peddles goods for food or drives his tricycle could have time for such kind of activity when missing a day’s income could mean so much for his family.

We do not question the intention of the good congressman for he may have only good intentions in mind, albeit the safety of the riding public is already a responsibility of the LTO and traffic enforcers which all local government units have. Rep. Velasco seems to be a hardworking lawmaker as he authors both House bills filed in consecutive numbers (HB 31 and 32).

What really pisses off is, no one from both houses of Congress seems to be picking up from the 19 priority legislative agenda proposed by PBBM in his State of the Nation Address. We have yet to hear a bill filed from among the list of the legislative measures proposed by the President. Aside from the fact that the President has the majority as allies in both houses of Congress, his priority legislative agenda deserves the attention of Congress because those are what he needs to advance his development agenda and economic reforms.

PBBM may not be a perfect leader but he deserves all the support from all sectors of Philippine society.

We can only wish his administration to succeed. Nobody wants him to fail because his failure is our disaster!

(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Maugan P. Mosaid holds a PhD in Rural Development. He is a freelance writer, planning consultant and teaches Statistics and Research in the graduate school. He can be contacted at mauganmosaid6@gmail.com).