PNP-HPG: Back-rid­ing pol­icy vi­o­la­tors may be ar­rested start­ing this week­end

The Philip­pine Na­tional Po­lice High­way Pa­trol Group (PNP-HPG) said it will only warn and not ap­pre­hend those found vi­o­lat­ing the guide­lines of the back-rid­ing pol­icy dur­ing its first day of im­ple­men­ta­tion on Fri­day, July 10.

“Warn­ing lang. Hindi pa tayo manghuhuli. Al­though ha­hana­pan natin sila ng mga pro­tec­tive shields (We will only warn them. We won’t ap­pre­hend them. Al­though we will check whether they have pro­tec­tive shields),” PNP HPG Di­rec­tor P/Brig. Gen Eliseo Cruz told DZBB.

Cruz said rid­ers will be warned if they do not have pro­tec­tive shields or if they fail to present doc­u­ments.

The PNP HPG di­rec­tor said au­thor­i­ties will ask rid­ers for iden­ti­fi­ca­tion cards or doc­u­ments which can prove that they are mar­ried or are live-in part­ners.

Cruz said rid­ers can present orig­i­nal copies of their mar­riage con­tract or a barangay cer­ti­fi­ca­tion stat­ing that they live in one house­hold. Rid­ers can also present pho­tos of their wed­ding as proof, ac­cord­ing to Cruz.

Af­ter Fri­day’s dry run, Cruz said the PNP HPG will strictly en­force the back-rid­ing pol­icy and will start ap­pre­hend­ing vi­o­la­tors.

“Maar­ing bukas po ay tu­loy-tu­loy na ang pag huli natin (We will prob­a­bly start ap­pre­hend­ing vi­o­la­tors to­mor­row ),” he said.

The Depart­ment of the In­te­rior and Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment an­nounced on July 9 that back-rid­ing among mar­ried cou­ples or live-in part­ners will be al­lowed start­ing July 10.

DILG Sec­re­tary Ed­uardo Año said vi­o­la­tors will be charged.

Read more: Gov’t allows backriding for couples effective July 10