PRO-12, LGUs set rules against illegal Cotabato motorcycle races

COTABATO CITY — The Police Regional Office-12, local executives and the provincial government of Cotabato have set regulations to address the illegal motorcycle drag races in highways in the province.

The motorcycle races in Libungan, Cotabato hit the news and went viral on Facebook after a racer, John Lloyd Calawigan, rammed a tricycle from behind while racing with other motorists last Saturday, killing its passenger, Genevieve Villela, and himself.

Villela's husband, the tricycle driver Florante, was seriously hurt in Saturday's accident. A number of illegal drag racers and pedestrians got injured in mishaps in stretches of the Cotabato-Davao Highway in Barangays Ulamian and Batiocan in Libungan early on. 

Former Cotabato Vice Gov. Shirlyn Macasarte was tapped by Gov. Emmylou Taliño Mendoza, chairperson of the multi-sector Provincial Peace and Order Council, to help Libungan Mayor Angel Rose Cuan put an end to the nagging issue besetting her municipality that residents have long been ranting about.

Macasarte on Wednesday said she had a fruitful dialogue on the issue on Tuesday with Cuan and senior police officials in the province, among them provincial police director Col. Gilbert Tuzon, right in Libungan where they agreed to collaborate now to stop drag races in the municipality.

Cuan and officials of the Libungan Municipal Police Station immediately established night anti-drag racing checkpoints in strategic areas in the municipality on Tuesday night.

"We have reached a consensus on how to solve the problem and one of which is to put up anti-drag racing checkpoints in between stretches of the Cotabato-Davao Highway in Ulamian and Batiocan areas in Libungan," Macasarte said.

Officials present in the meeting at Cuan's office also favored a proposal as one solution to the problem to offer monetary incentives to informants who can help the police detect motorcycle drag races anywhere in Libungan.

Macaserte said that Cuan and her constituent-local officials are serious in their bid to stop the illegal motorcycle drag races in Libungan.