By Lito Bautista
OR, I was “tagged,” too, in a checkpoint manned by civilian volunteers, and heavily-armed policemen and soldiers in Candelaria, Quezon (a province always inhabited by the New People’s Army) after coming from a court appointment in Lucena City last Monday.
My roadworthy black 125 now carries the sticker of the blue and yellow logo of the Quezon Police Provincial Office and I am now a card (3×5 inches) bearer of “Oplan Checkmate,” which carries my name, handwritten by a burly, rough-black skinned police officer (rank “PO Box”), the make/model and color of my workhorse, the plate number and the chassis and motor engine numbers.
Another police officer copied all the details in my professional driver’s license (restriction codes 1, 2, 3, expiration 2014) and all the details in the official receipt and certificate of registration of the motorcycle in a blue book of the outpost, its small vacant lot crowded by some 30 motorcycles, while other flagged bikes wait on the highway gravel shoulder.
Perhaps because of my identification card, I was saved the long wait and occular and physical inspection of the chassis and engine numbers (in the physical inspection, an officer checks if the numbers are tampered with). Unmatched numbers bring the rider in deep trouble.
A motorcycle not owned by the flagged rider needs a confirmation (can be done through the cell phone, or the owner may show up at the outpost).
After the verifications (I breezed some stages because of my Inquirer ID), another officer slapped the sticker on the front fender. The Oplan Checkmate card was then handed to me.
I was asked to laminate the card and see to it that the sticker is not removed, although an edge peeled off from the fender, “because it’s local.” When passing by any Quezon town, and a city, the sticker and the card would exempt me from being stopped in checkpoints.
Other provinces, especially Cavite, Laguna and Batangas, may soon follow suit.
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