Straight ahead: LGBTQ couples can backride
LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) couples are among the people allowed for motorcycle backriding, according to LtGen. Guillermo Eleazar, Metro Manila regional police chief. “Sa pagkakataong ito, ang ating iexercise diyan is ‘yung common sense... kaya nga sa pagkakataong ‘yun, nakikita naman po natin na ‘yun ay nakasaklaw (This time, we would exercise common sense; that is why we see this instance included [in guidelines]),” Eleazar said on Saturday in a Laging Handa news briefing.
Based on the guidelines of the National Task Force (NTF) Covid-19, only married couples and those partners living under the same roof are permitted to backride again.
Eleazar said an LGBTQ couple should present proof that they are indeed a couple.
“Kailangan lamang po dun makapagpatunay lugaro I mean, iisang address, iisang bahay (What they need is to show that they are residing in a particular place or I mean, one address, one house),” he added.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año agreed that LGBTQ couples should be allowed for backriding, Eleazar said.
For people pretending that they are a couple, the Metro Manila police chief added, a physical barrier between them could at least minimize the danger of infection.
Motorcycle backriding started on Friday but for couples only, and they should present proofs such as ID cards and a marriage certificate.
On the first day of the comeback of
motorcycle back- riding, violators of the NTF guidelines were only warned by law enforcers, Eleazar said.
He added that the return of the motorcycle backriding would be assessed by the task force.
“It will be studied, assessed by the inter-agency task force at kung meron mang pagbabago,
‘yun po ay aming ibibigay sa Joint Task Force Shield para sa aming implementation (and if there are changes, they would be given to Joint Task Force Shield for implementation),” Eleazar said in the Laging Handa news briefing.
He urged the public to cooperate with the law enforcers by installing a physical barrier between the rider and the passenger and wearing a face mask and helmet.
Violators would face charges for violation of Republic Act 11332, or the “Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act,” particularly Section 9 ( e) on non-cooperation of persons and entities.