War vs ‘fake’ bikes launched

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) raided three distributors of Chinese-made motorcycles labeled as "fake" or "counterfeit" by major motorcycle manufacturers in the country.

In what was tagged as the launch of the war versus fake bikes, the raids yielded NBI special investigator Ramon Alba and his two men served a search and seizure warrant on May 9 to Jincheng-Mitsukoshi Motors Phils., Yusho Motor Sales, and Uni-Line Multi Resources, all based in Quezon City.

Alba seized from Jincheng-Mitsukoshi 24 motorcycles labeled "Waaie" and 12 bikes marked "Dream Excess" with a combined value of P1.5 million. He confiscated from Yusho and Uni-Line 53 motorcycles marked "Matrix II", "Cyclone", and Yiying", with an estimated P3-million total value.

The raids were done in response to a complaint lodged by the Motorcycle Development Program Participants Association (MDPPA), a group composed of the country’s top motorcycle makers such as Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Kymco.

Mateo Ocenar, president of MDPPA and representative of Honda, said the raids marked the start of the association’s campaign against manufacturers and distributors of counterfeit motorcycles.

Ocenar told The STAR that counterfeiting of motorcycles by Chinese manufacturers is causing legitimate bike-makers to lose millions in unrealized revenues and the general public harm by making them believe that "these bikes of inferior quality are just like Honda."

"The most copied bike we have is the Honda Wave and people are being led to believe that the Waaie of Lifan is just like the Wave when in fact it is not," he said. Ocenar stressed that what the Chinese manufacturers and distributors are doing smacks of "unfair competition."

However, one of the affected distributors of the so-called "fake bikes" was quick to rebut Ocenar’s allegation.

Arabelle Lee, an official of Jincheng-Mitsukoshi, said Ocenar can never claim that the Lifan Waaie is a fake Honda Wave since it has features totally different from the Japanese bike. And she stressed that they never make people believe that the Waaie is just like the Wave.

"We don’t operate like that. What we do is offer the Filipino people with bikes they can afford. For so long, the Japanese manufacturers sold us bikes at unbelivably high prices. Now we’re offering cheaper alternatives," she said.

Jincheng-Mitsukoshi has filed a motion with the Manila Regional Trial Court branch 24 questioning the search and seizure order issued by Judge Antonio Eugenio.

In its eight-page motion, the company alleged that the judge’s order had vital errors which rendered it invalid. Among those errors were in the spelling of the motorcycle models to be confiscated – the Waaie was spelled as Waaei and the Lifan LF 110-7A was noted as Lifan LFG 110-7A.

"These bikes Waaei and LFG 110 do not exist. We don’t even have a Dream Excess. What we have is a Lifan Excess," said Lee. "We are demanding that they return the motorcycles they confiscated because what they did was illegal."

Lee also complained at the NBI’s seizure of their company’s receipts, invoices, ledgers, books of accounts and other important documents, including those for other motorcycle models not included in the search warrant.

"Even our receipts for our Husky model were taken. They (NBI men) went overboard in exercising their power. We also have our rights as Filipino citizens. We might have Chinese-sounding surnames but we are Filipinos too," she lamented.

During the interview, Ocenar said Chinese-made motorcycles are not only inferior in quality but also not at par to Japanese-made bikes when it comes to emissions.

"The emission standard used for these fake bikes are questionable and we will be asking the government to investigate these manufacturers and distributors and stop them from bringing these bikes into the country," he said.

But Lee again was quick to disagree. She said the bikes they sell all comply with the Philippine government’s emission and safety requirements. She also pointed out that what the "exclusive MDPPA" is doing is "bully us small players so they can monopolize the market again."

"The ultimate judge here is the people. Owning a motorcycle has been a dream for them and we Chinese manufacturers and distributors are making that dream a reality for them," she said. "If the MDPPA members want to really compete with us, then they should go back to their tables and do some pencil-pushing. The only way is to lower their price so people will have the option."