Cebu City will wait for DOTr response of backriding appeal — Labella

A long line of motorcycle riders wait for them to be allowed to enter Cebu City during last April’s start of the enhanced community quarantine. | CDN Digital file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella has chosen to wait for the response of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) over the no-backriding policy for motorcycles.

The mayor said that the decision cannot be made by the local government because the policy had been based on the guidelines of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) for the use of motorcycles.

READ MORE: Labella to ask DOTr to allow jeepneys to operate under GCQ

“We already wrote two letters to the DOTr, we will just wait for this response. This is beyond our hands because this is IATF guidelines,” said the mayor.

The mayor emphasized that under the modified general community quarantine (MCGQ), backriding may already be allowed for family members.

This means that when the city graduates to MGCQ on June 15, 2020, there is a high chance that backriding is already allowed by then for non-commerical motorcycles.

“Hapit naman June 15, gamay na lang. Huwaton na lang na nato. (June 15 is near, we are almost there. Let us wait for that day),” said the mayor.

READ MORE: Cebu City dad to Labella: Adopt backriding policy of provincial gov’t

Labella said he was confident that the DOTr would seriously take into consideration the appeal of the city especially with dire need of transportation of the public.

He said there would be no need to follow the provincial government’s steps to allow backriding of motorcycles.

READ MORE: Backriding on non-commercial motorcycles to be allowed in Cebu province

The Cebu Provincial government recently announced that backriding would soon be allowed in the province once an Executive Order from Governor Gwendolyn Garcia and a provincial ordinance would be passed. /dbs