Motorcycle group hits HPG in Skyway ban issue

Motorcyclists protest Skyway officials’ move to ban small motorcycles on a portion of Osmeña Highway. — INQUIRER PHOTO / MARIANNE BERMUDEZ.

THE leader of a motorcyclists’ group said law enforcers should not have been apprehending riders of small motorcycles on a section of Osmeña Highway, citing an agreement to postpone the ban on motorcycles with engines smaller than 400cc in that area has been reached.

According to a Philippine Daily Inquirer report published today, Motorcycle Rights Organization (MRO) chairman Jobert Bolanos had said Skyway O&M Corp. (SOMCO) officials already deferred the implementation of the ban on sub-400cc motorbikes between the Magallanes Interchange in Makati City and Sales Interchange in Pasay City — which includes a portion of Osmeña Highway — subject to certain conditions.

“[Skyway] already gave us a temporary pass while we are searching for a solution [to] this problem. Then we learn that your men are taking advantage of the situation?” Bolanos was quoted by the Inquirer as addressing Police Brig. Gen. Roberto Fajardo, chief of the Philippine National Police’s Highway Patrol Group (HPG), in a Facebook post.

The Inquirer said it tried to get Fajardo’s reaction but the HPG official did not respond by the time today’s issue of the newspaper went to press Monday night.

SOMCO officials and the Toll Regulatory Board (through its spokesman Alberto Suansing) last week said they were merely implementing Republic Act No. 2000, which prohibits sub-400cc motorcycles on tollways, the Inquirer said.

The officials justified the move as a “safety precaution” against the increasing number of accidents involving motorcycles.

The Inquirer said Skyway cited data showing 373 road crashes involving motorcycles from Magallanes to Sales interchanges in both the northbound and southbound lanes occurred from January 2016 to June 2019. Of the total, five resulted in deaths and 130 caused injuries.

Bolanos said he does not see the “logic and math” behind Skyway’s figures.

“With a conservative 20,000 motorcycles on Osmeña Highway per day, motorcycle accidents only account for 0.00001 percent of the total motorcycle accidents for the past five years,” he pointed out. “So if the numbers are higher for the private vehicles, should they also be banned there?” the Inquirer report quoted the MRO head as saying