DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Calls to allow motorcycles to carry passengers have gained ground as the Davao City Council passed a resolution urging the national government to allow this practice.
The national government has a ‘No-back ride policy’ as part of physical distancing measures in the Covid-19 pandemic. But the public has clamored that motorcycles be allowed to ferry family members and frontliners because of the limited public transportation.
Some frontliners have complained that the enforcement of the no-back ride policy have inconvenienced frontliners who rely on such transportation.
The council’s resolution, authored by Councilor Danilo Dayanghirang, recommended back-riding not only for family members, but also for the riding public, as they see motorcycles are a common mode of transportation to avoid the heavy traffic in the city.
The resolutions reads: “Whereas, the need to address the growing demand of the riding public for more transportation options given the strain on public transportation caused by measures like physical distancing and there have already been various designs for a nonporous transparent barrier between motorcycle driver and back rider, in the hopes of getting government to green light back-riding under the normal protocols.”
Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio advised Davaoeños in her regular interview in the Davao City Disaster Radio to wait for the national Inter-agency task force on Covid-19 (IATF) to provide guidelines for the new policy.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said last Saturday during a briefing that the task force will soon released the guidelines. (davaotoday.com)
