With the elections barely less than four months away, the Philippine National Police and the Commission on Elections have been doing daily checkpoints along busy roads in Negros Oriental.
You may not immediately spot the policemen manning a checkpoint, but you will know there is one set up there down the road because you see not a few motorcyclists huddled together beside the road, keeping a safe distance from that checkpoint.
Who are these motorists? They are drivers of vehicles that are not registered, or have expired registration, or have defective lights or other motorcycle parts, or they have no helmets.
But you won’t see four-wheeled vehicles waiting it out along the road. For some reason, only motorcyclists are given the third degree at these Comelec checkpoints.
Motorcyclists assail this as discriminatory, unfair, and anti-poor.
There are times when a motorcyclist’s fears are realized, and that is when the checkpoint is joined by the Highway Patrol Group or the Land Transportation Office, which have stringent guidelines for the operation of motorized vehicles.
Going by the statistics of unregistered vehicles — which are usually used in committing crimes — it would appear that the insistence of the Police on only inspecting motorcycles stands to reason.
And by the sheer number of motorcylists who attempt to evade these checkpoints, one might conclude that the number of unlicensed drivers, unregistered motorcycles, or those that are not supposed to be on the road for some reason could be staggering.
In all likelihood, these road checkpoints will be able to inconvenience these kinds of motorists to a point that they would finally decide to get a driver’s license, or have their vehicle registered. In the process, they would hopefully learn driving rules.
In fact, it would do us all good if this mandate of having road checkpoints stays — even after May 9. It is one way of doing something positive to keep our community safe.
