Tomorrow, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte will step down from the highest post in the Philippines.
Throughout his six years in the office, the President has made it a priority to continue or start some of the largest civil construction projects in the country’s history. Construction works for the thousands of kilometers of new roads, bridges, and highways were completed during his term, while other projects were initiated or are on the way.
In the motorcycle community, however, the one aspect of the legacy that the President is leaving that has caused concern is RA 11235 or the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act of 2019. This law was signed and approved by President Duterte on March 8, 2019.
Dubbed by motorcycle riders simply as Doble Plaka law, it prescribes hefty fines and penalties specific to motorcycle owners and riders. The rationale behind the law is the fact that criminal elements in the country tend to use motorcycles in their activities, and so one of the provisions of RA 11235 is to have a readable front plate.
After much debate and consultation, the Land Transportation Office (LTO), had elected to use decals as opposed to using front plates made from a hard or metallic material. Just recently, MotoPinas.com got a glimpse of what seems to be the final production design of the front motorcycle plate.
As far as the law’s Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) is concerned, it specifies that the front plate “shall be 125mm in width and 95mm in height, and made of suitable and durable sticker material with reflectorized alphanumeric characters and security features. The font size for all alphanumeric characters is 40mm tall.”
Based on the photo, the final production design will be about as large as an iPhone 13 smartphone, which measures 5.78-inches tall and 2.82-inches wide.
This provision of Doble Plaka will proceed as stated by outgoing LTO chief Edgar Galvante earlier this month. There will be challenges as to how this big of a front plate decal will fit all common types and makes of motorcycles. Let’s just hope that riders will not be penalized just because their motorcycle (by manufacturer design) cannot accommodate such a big front number plate.
