A total of 19,086 crimes involving riding-in-tandem have been recorded since 2016 that have not been resolved, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Debold Sinas said.
Sinas said this at the hearing of the Senate blue ribbon committee chaired by Senator Richard Gordon regarding the implementation of the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act enacted in 2019.
The proposal aims to enlarge and make color coded number plates of motorcycles so that they can be easily identified and seen often used in crimes.
According to Sinas, of the said number, they solved 9,040 or only 48.87 percent and the rest remained under investigation.
According to the record from January 1 to February this year, up to 50 individuals were killed by riding-in-tandem.
Sinas, on the other hand, asserted that their tactical motorcycle riding units (TMRUs) consisting of motorcyclists patrolling are active in order to immediately catch the riding-in-tandem suspects.
So far, they allegedly have 2,000 policemen trained in motorcycle riding by the Highway Patrol Group to prevent such incidents.
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70% of PNP will be assigned to vaccination rollout
About 70 percent of the Philippine National Police (PNP) force will be deployed to provide security at the start of the vaccination rollout.
According to PNP Spokesperson BGen. Ildibrandi Usana, the PNP leadership decided that 70% of their force will serve as security escorts and to secure COVID-19 vaccines including inoculation teams.
However, Usana clarified that the actual number of deployment of police personnel at vaccination sites depends.
The general also assured that their mission to focus on their anti-criminality operations will not be neglected, despite the extra work of the police especially in the vaccination rollout.
Sinas earlier announced that the PNP is ready to provide security for the vaccination rollout.
Apart from the police personnel who will provide security for the COVID-19 vaccines, the PNP will also deploy their medical reserve force to assist in assisting health workers in providing vaccines to recipients.
Meanwhile, according to PNP ASCOTF Commander Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, their vaccination rollout plan is out.