By Mortz C. Ortigoza
Columnists and
radio commentators should not only have flair of writing and gift of gab, they
should be perceptive where what they passionately write and bombard in the
airwaves are buttressed by past knowledge and research.
Otherwise, they would
be just like many of these present practitioners who pollute the media with
their, my golly, all form but lack the freakin’ substance’s journalistic somersault.
Here was a column and blog, full of common sense, I wrote in July 28, 2014:
“The Dagupan City Council led by its proponent
Councilor Netu Tamayo, a lawyer, had passed an ordinance revising the helmet
law by imposing a fine for motorist who drive motorcycle above 15 kilometers
per hour (KPH) and/or wearing his helmet inside the central business district
as a way to deter criminals riding in tandem in perpetuating their dastardly
acts.
The intention of the dads versus the criminals was laudable but the passing of the no-helmet law is idiotic.
Lawyer Jojo Guadiz, the regional director of the Land Transportation Office based in San Fernando City even warned the councilors that in case he and his men see motorcycle riders driving without a helmet they would flag and fine them.
Republic Act No. 10054 mandates all motorcycle riders to wear standard protective helmets while driving. It imposes fines for violators at P1, 500 for the first offense; P3, 000 for the second offense, P5, 000 for the thirds offense and P10, 000 plus confiscation of driver’s license for the fourth and succeeding offenses.
What would Netu and his colleagues do in case a motorist is fined by an LTO enforcer because he violated a national law like RA No. 10054?
Would Netu and the councilors chip-in to pay the fine in behalf of the flagged motorist?
Let us remember an ordinance can not supersede (to motorcycle riders who read my article it means “replace”, stupid!) a national law.
If the dads were against the national law they should lobby at congress to pass the statute they want and not act among themselves to make their own law.
Son of a gun, they are not congress, they are only a city council”.
***
The intention of the dads versus the criminals was laudable but the passing of the no-helmet law is idiotic.
Lawyer Jojo Guadiz, the regional director of the Land Transportation Office based in San Fernando City even warned the councilors that in case he and his men see motorcycle riders driving without a helmet they would flag and fine them.
Republic Act No. 10054 mandates all motorcycle riders to wear standard protective helmets while driving. It imposes fines for violators at P1, 500 for the first offense; P3, 000 for the second offense, P5, 000 for the thirds offense and P10, 000 plus confiscation of driver’s license for the fourth and succeeding offenses.
What would Netu and his colleagues do in case a motorist is fined by an LTO enforcer because he violated a national law like RA No. 10054?
Would Netu and the councilors chip-in to pay the fine in behalf of the flagged motorist?
Let us remember an ordinance can not supersede (to motorcycle riders who read my article it means “replace”, stupid!) a national law.
If the dads were against the national law they should lobby at congress to pass the statute they want and not act among themselves to make their own law.
Son of a gun, they are not congress, they are only a city council”.
***
Recently,
Regional Trial Court Judge Junius F. Dalaten rejected that Section 4 of
Ordinance No. 2013-2014 (Instituting Certain Measures for the
Protection of the Lives and Property of Dagupenos and Providing Penalties
Thereto for Non Observance) runs counter to a law particularly Republic
Act No. 10054 (Helmet Law) where
motorists are required to wear helmet.
“Clearly, their (respondents) interpretation to the
ordinance lead them to arrive to their conclusion that they are not violating
the Helmet Law resorted to the game of semantics,” Judge Dalaten wrote.
Petitioner and
Lawyer Llamas, a motorbike enthusiast, petitioned the court in 2014 that
the councilors passed the assailed ordinance to vent their ire on all innocent
motorcycle riders after Councilor Tamayo’s wife was mugged by motorcycle riders
after she withdrew money from an Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) in a bank in the city.
The RTC
admonished the local lawmakers: “Let everyone be informed that enactment of
local ordinances cannot rest solely on the whims and caprices of the local
legislative assembly sitting in its August chamber, not to vent an ire or to
give way to an unbridled anger but it must conform to the test of consistency
with existing laws”.
In case the
respondents appeal the decision of the RTC to the higher court, I am sure the
latter will uphold the “common sense” decision of Dalaten.
To those who
still advocate on this beleaguered ordinance, even political science students
will rebutt you in this boondoggle and waste of saliva at the expense of the
taxpayers’ monies with that legal maxim “a local law cannot supersede a
national law”.
Local nga, e hindi national sikayo met!
VIDEO: JDV on the lack of understanding of the Pinoys on Federalism
(You can read my selected columns at mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)
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