Warning! Sharks on the roads!

With the recent discovery of new rules and regulations implemented by LTO on the forums of MCP, a few questions linger in my head...

When was this brought up and announced on a nationwide and public scale? How come I have never heard of it except in MCP? How come there are no published articles and not even a certain grace period before they put this in effect?

I recently got my license renewed a couple of weeks ago and there was no indication nor posts about this new law on their public announcement billboard. All I know is that there was an interview and the LTO officer declared this law to be in effect.

Another question I have is, what ever happened to information dissemination before the passing on of a law? And how come we can't even see it on the violations, penalties and fines section of both the LTO and MMDA websites?

So they just flag you down, look at your bike, declare whats illegal, take your license and have you go to East Avenue to reclaim it for 2,500?!? And that is if you have put your motorcycle back to it's stock state. What about those who have modified their bikes before the so called "LAW" was put out? Since this law is new, doesn't it exempt these people from the new directive? If they were to prohibit these modifications on our bikes, shouldn't they go to the source of the parts first? Also, since they were not deemed illegal before this directive came out, shouldn't they at least return the money we spent on our bikes before they even make us follow these rules? I mean, these regulations are all new right? They haven't even updated the list on their websites and on their offices and here they are, flagging bikers all over Luzon and making us pay for something that was not even put into dialogue with our fellow bike groups and organizations.

What's more alarming is, the obvious fact that they are doing this to bikers only. Why are we being singled out from the other vehicles on the streets? We don't see them flagging down jeepneys for their modifications on their lights, body parts, horns, exhaust tips, wheel covers and what not. We also don't see them flagging down cars who are lowered, has inch thick tires, loud sirens, loud exhaust tips, loud sound systems and semi-racing to racing engines. Why just us motorcycle users?

Now, adding insult to injury, these LTO officers that we see on the streets conducting these operations have motorcycles themselves. Sometimes, the motorcycles they own have no plate stickers or no plates even, modified parts like what most people have and the officers who ride them don't even wear helmets themselves. Most of them doesn't even know what the stock parts are since a person was caught with a stock rear shock absorber that the officer was claiming to be an aftermarket part.

And if that isn't enough, PNP officers and MMDA traffic enforcers are taking advantage of this so called laws to dig deep into every bikers pockets that they come across. "Boss, bawal po ito, bawal po iyan! Naku, malamang di mo na matubos lisensya mo sa dami ng violations mo at ng motor mo. Impound na naten yan!" And the poor rider is left clueless and dismayed in hearing such claims. And when all hope is gone for the poor biker, the officer suddenly blurts out, "Aregluhin mo na yan dito para di ka na maabala at mapagastos pa ng mas malaki. Saka mo na lang ibalik sa stock motor mo para di ka na mahuli". Now, the rider, who probably uses his motorcycle for his livelihood (e.g. delivery/messengers), is forced to give in so that he can finish his daily routine. And of course, these officers/enforcers don't even follow the rules themselves. Riding with their slacks, riding with out helmets, Riding with the same stuff we have on our bikes and so on and so fourth.

Why are we being apprehended for such reasons when they don't even follow their own rules? And who ever came up with these regulations obviously know nothing about bikes or isn't knowledgeable enough to know what the parts do to our rides.

And each day, we see more and more of our fellow riders fall victim to these sharks... All clueless and dismayed that they have committed an infraction that they hardly know anything about... And whats worse is the people who catch them, have the same or even worse violations themselves...

What are we to do? I have searched high and low for other countries who have the same laws as these... Sad to say, this law, or shall I say "RACKET", can be found... "only in the Philippines".

In my honest opinion, the LTO has suddenly become anti-motorcycle since we are the only ones being targeted in this new set of rules they have put up. And since that is the case, what they are doing is discrimination, harassment and the complete and total disregard of our rights as bikers.

Whats next? The complete and total ban of bikes? Tsk tsk tsk...