SENATOR Christopher “Bong” Go said that an information, education and communication campaign on Republic Act 11229 or the Child Safety in Motor Vehicles Act must be done first before it is fully implemented.
“Nakausap ko rin si Pangulong (Rodrigo) Duterte. Sang-ayon siya dahil mahirap pa ang panahon… Maraming naghihirap na mga tao,” Go said.
In an interview after personally leading the distribution of assistance to public transportation drivers in Quezon City on Wednesday, February 3, Go said that he discussed with Department of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade and Land Transportation Office Chief Edgar Galvante to personally lobby for the postponement of the law because of the pandemic.
“Alam n’yo ‘yung batas na ‘yan, pinasa na po ‘yan nung February 2019. Meron na pong Implementing Rules and Regulations at dapat pong iimplementa na ang IEC campaign noong nakaraang taon. Dahil inabot ng pandemic, ‘di natuloy,” Go said, explaining that the law states that it should be implemented this February 2021 and a communications campaign was supposed to be conducted last year.
“Kinausap ko (noong Martes) sina Secretary Tugade at Assistant Secretary Galvante at sumang-ayon naman po sila na suspendido muna at by phases po ang gagawin. Walang huhulihin, walang penalties, no apprehension. Walang kukuning mga lisensya dito sa batas na ito,” Go added.
Transportation officials have agreed to defer the full implementation of the law while finalizing its enforcement guidelines. The age and height of children to be covered by the law, as well as penalties for its violators and the standard car seat to be used, will still be determined and an awareness campaign must be conducted to raise public understanding.
“Bagamat nakasaad sa batas na kailangan na ito maimplementa ngayong taon, sisikapin muna nating maipaintindi sa mga tao kung ano po ang batas na ito, bakit ito kailangan maimplementa, at ano ang mga patakaran na kailangan sundin ukol dito. Bibigyan natin ng oras ang lahat na makapaghanda muna, habang may pandemya pa rin tayong sinusubukang malampasan,” Go said.
While the implementation is deferred, Go said the public need to understand that it will soon be implemented once everything goes back to normal as he emphasized that its Implementing Rules and Regulations have already been approved in February 2019.
“Sa kasalukuyan, ang gagawin ay patuloy ang information campaign kung ano ba ang batas na ito,” Go said.
The LTO said that it will conduct information, education, and communications campaign for three to six months prior to full enforcement of the new law.
Go also cited the health protocols set by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Diseases (IATF) which prohibits children from going outside their homes.
“Meron pa tayong IATF protocol na bawal lumabas ang mga bata, so pwede munang isuspinde ang pag-iimplementa nito. So, habang naghihintay tayo na bumalik sa normal na pamumuhay, dito natin paigtingin ang info campaign para maintindihan ng mga kababayan natin dahil pagdating po ng panahon, kailangan iimplementa ang batas na ito dahil ipinasa ito noong 2019 pa,” he added.
Based on the data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, seventeen percent or 12,000 of the total road crash victims from 2006 to 2014 are children.
“Ang apela ko sa mga kababayan natin, makinig tayo sa information campaign at intindihin natin ito. Kapakanan at kaligtasan ng lahat, lalong-lalo na po ang mga kabataan, ang inuuna natin sa pagpapatupad nito,” he said.
“Darating rin po ang panahon na kailangang ipatupad na ang nakasaad mismo sa batas. Oras na malampasan na natin ang pandemya at magiging normal na ang ating pamumuhay, kailangan natin itong sundin – itong batas na ito. Ang mga patakarang ito ay para rin naman sa kaligtasan at ikabubuti ng bawat Pilipino,” he added.
