Labella asks DOTr to allow families to backride on motorcycles

Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella has written to Secretary Arthur Tugade of the Department of Transportation (DOTr), asking reconsideration on the no-backride policy on motorcycles.

Labella said on Wednesday, March 25, 2020, that he has written to Secretary Tugade amidst the call of the public to allow married couples or other immediate family members like offsprings or siblings on the back of motorcycles when going out their homes either to work or to buy needs.

The mayor said that motorcycles may be the only means of transport for some families, and this should be given consideration in this time of public health emergency due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19).

“I am respectfully appealing to the Secretary to reconsider the back riding policy especially if they had ID. We assure the secretary that the city will do its part to implement the policies of DOTr in the City of Cebu,” said the mayor.

The mayor said that wives or husbands of the driver, their children, or other immediate family members should be able to ride on the back of the motorcycle as this is convenient for those who will be getting goods for the households.

This should be an exception to social distancing because families live together in the same house and are considered a cluster by themselves.

But the mayor said that the driver and the passenger should still wear masks to protect themselves from exposure.

Labella assured Tugade that the directives of the DOTr as measures against the Covid-19 such as social distancing public utility vehicles (PUV) will be implemented strictly in Cebu City.

The city has also implemented social distancing in Cibuses, Mybuses, beeps, and free buses for workers during the curfew. Even tricycles are allowed to load only up to 3 passengers. /bmjo