CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – A legislator here asked the city council to repeal Ordinance No. 14421-2022 that eased the wearing of helmets in town center or poblacion and urbanized areas following the death of his son due to an accident last month.
Councilor Roger Abaday proposed the implementation of the “No Helmet, No Travel Policy,” stressing that the mandatory wearing of the protective gear is a crucial safety measure for riders and back riders, protecting them from the serious consequences of accidents.
A MOTORCYCLE travels on Don Apolinar Velez St. Cagayan de Oro City. (Franck Dick Rosete)
“I will cite you a good example, my son. When I was asked by the attending doctor, was he wearing a helmet? If he wore a helmet, he should’ve been alive,” he said in his special report during the city council session on Monday, November 13.
Abaday’s 22-year-old son Ed Satur was involved in a self-accident on Diversion Road, Barangay Kauswagan, on October 25, and was taken to the Northern Mindanao Medical Center here where he died due to head injuries.
Ordinance No. 14421-2022 authorized traffic law enforcement agencies to relax mandatory wearing of safety helmet for motorcycle drivers and their pillion riders within Barangays Nazareth, Macasandig, and Carmen, including uptown areas and other areas as may be identified by the mayor, provided that the 30-kilometer per hour speed limit is complied with, as unscrupulous individuals have used the mandate to commit crimes based on police data.
Ferdinand Flores, information officer of the Land Transportation Office-Northern Mindanao (LTO-10), said in a media forum on May 19 that drivers’ safety should not be compromised in solving criminality, adding that criminality should be addressed by the police through the implementation of their systems and policies, in reaction to the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office proposal to implement the non-wearing of helmets in the city proper to reduce crime.
Section 3 of Republic Act No. 10054, or the Motorcycle Helmet Act of 2009, states that “all motorcycle riders, including drivers and back riders, shall at all times wear standard protective motorcycle helmets while driving, whether long or short drives, on any type of road or highway.”
Councilor Jose Pepe Abbu Jr. said there was recommendation in a previous committee hearing attended by a top LTO-10 official to repeal the ordinance because of conflict with national law.
Councilor Romeo Calizo, chairman of the committee on public order and safety, was the first to recommend the repeal and bring the proposal into the plenary after a series of discussions was overtaken by events. He added that the matter should be brought back to the committee level again for appropriate action.