For a city dubbed as the “Motorcycle Capital of the Philippines,” visitors may be surprised to see thousands of these motorcycles going around town driven by drivers with no helmets.
With sometimes an umbrella on the left hand to ward off either heat or rain, helmetless Dumaguete motorcyclists go about their business like taking a five-minute drive to the market, church, office or school.
In 2011 alone, a total of 19,000 motorcycles–or an average of 52 units a day–were registered in Dumaguete City, said Roland Ramos, chief of the Dumaguete LTO office. And the number continues to grow. Every home in this city of 30,000 families, regardless of economic status, has at least one motorcycle.
“Motorcycles are very affordable, economical and easy to maintain,” Ramos said. Indeed, the “poor man’s vehicle” has been selling like the proverbial hotcakes with the advent of easy installment plans offered by motorcycle dealers.
“It’s no joke to buy a car, especially with the high price of gasoline. That’s why I’m sticking to my motorcycle,” said Romeo Caderao, a government employee.
Dumaguetenos also like riding motorcycles because they could weave through the congested traffic, not to mention the ease with which they could park through ‘valets’ or the ‘watch-your-bike brothers’ who show up at almost every corner of the city.
The insistence of drivers against the wearing of helmets, however, is one big puzzle the Ramos cannot crack. “The helmet law has been successfully implemented in other cities except in Dumaguete. Perhaps our heads are tougher than helmets,” he said in jest.
Motorcycle drivers in several public fora called for this topic, cited the inconvenience of having to drag a helmet wherever they go. They also said that they prefer to wear their helmets only when travelling outside of Dumaguete but not within the usual five-kilometer distance within city limits.
LTO Region 7 Director Raul Aguilos, who was in Dumaguete Wednesday, said he also finds Dumaguete a unique case. “While local officials in other cities or countries take the lead in promoting helmet use among motorists, the opposite is true in Dumaguete,” he said.
Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo and Dumaguete Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria, as well as the City Council of Dumaguete, had made pronouncements against the helmet requirement for motorists. Last January, Governor Degamo sought for a moratorium on the implementation of this law, saying “for every rule, there is always an exception.”
Aguilos said that they see the need to further educate not only the motorcyle drivers but the politicians on the relevance and importance on the use of helmets.
Republic Act 10054, or the Motorcycle Helmet Act of 2009, mandates the use of helmets although its Implementing Rules and Regulations has been in effect since January 14 2012 yet.
One stipulation in the IRR of RA 10054 is a six-month information dissemination campaign so the helmet requirement would only be effective starting July 14, Aguilos said.
“I told Mr. Ramos that by July 14, after a series of seminars, will strictly implement the mandatory use of helmets especially in Dumaguete, which is the most notorious in the entire Philippines. It’s the Motorcycle Capital but almost 90 percent are not using helmets,” Aguilos said.
Aguilos said that the LTO, however, may apprehend helmet-less drivers based on an earlier mandate–LTO Memorandum Circular 2008-33.
He said the LTO does not want to antagonize the local government officials who are opposed to the helmet law, but he stressed that such measures are in the interest of public safety.
