Bayanihan at the Subaru Impreza Challenge

Who says that the law-abiding locals of Singapore are square? And who says we should all be square when we’re in their country? Certainly not I. At least not after I had witnessed one of the most unique marketing events I’d ever been privy to. As exclusive broadsheet partner to the recently concluded Subaru Impreza Challenge, The Philippine STAR was granted two coverage seats over a weekend of mayhem. James Deakin and this writer took the opportunity to see just how much activity a marketing ploy of this magnitude is capable of generating. To say that we were blown away would be an understatement. We’ll get to the nitty-gritty of it all. But first, a little background information…

As a lead up to the Subaru Impreza Challenge in Singapore, Motor Image (exclusive distributors of the Subaru brand in the region) local offices staged their own scaled down versions of the event. Ours was held at the Greenhills Shopping Center last October. Up for grabs were 10 seats to the big event in Singapore, shopping money and the chance to win P100,000 as the last Pinoy standing in the big event. Of course if anyone of them were to be the actual last person standing at the big event, they’d be taking home a brand new Subaru Impreza WRX as well. Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand staged their own mini Subaru Impreza Challenges too. As a result, the said countries were allowed seats in the “regional car” that served as the “home” of the contestants for the duration of the challenge.

But wait. We might be getting ahead of ourselves. First we really ought to explain what the challenge entails. The rules are simple. At the start of the challenge, each challenger is to set his right hand firmly upon pre-determined, raffled off areas around a Subaru Impreza. They are to keep those hands firmly in place for as long as they can, with only five-minute breaks given every six hours. During the break, they can eat, drink, doze off, clean up, rest or answer the call of nature. The moment the break is over, they should have their hands firmly placed back on their designated areas. Sounds simple? Try doing it for three straight days!

Our contingent, having already gone through a mini-challenge in Manila, knew that it was going to take some solid will power to pull off a decent showing. And the Pinoys knew exactly what would help them get through – good old-fashioned bayanihan. Right off the bat they came in as a team. Farrah Aggarao, Erano Banares, Nadine Cabog, Jommel Dimapilis, Donald Gonzaga, Geovani Lapina, Baltazar Liwan, Aldrin Mariano, Alex Neblasca and Roberto Tomas even chose to sleep in a single room the night before the challenge as a show of solidarity. We in the Philippine media contingent – though not allowed to physically aid them – were profuse with our words of support.

When the challenge officially began, Team Philippines was officially on its own. Up against 10 Malaysians, 10 Thais, 10 Hong Kong locals and 360 Singaporeans, our team was determined to give a solid showing. The most telling of all stories, however, came from the sidelines. In the almost 63 hours that a Filipino was holding on to the regional car, not once were they without a kababayan cheerleader. In fact, during the scheduled 7PM breaks, where a family member was allowed to massage or feed a contestant, our boys and gal had “instant family” by their side, with Singapore-based Filipinos volunteering to be “family”. Even Bacolod-born Star Sports talent Drinie Aguilar, who by virtue of her newly launched column in Top Gear Philippines becomes the first Singapore based Filipina motoring journalist, was there to lend a helping hand on a whim! Thus, in an event that highlighted individual will power, determination and stamina, the Filipino trait of solidarity shone through via a little trait that has time and again helped us weather many a storm – bayanihan.

With the support they were getting from each other and from their kababayans, Team Philippines showed up in a big way, with three challengers making it to the top 20 and the last one (Roberto Tomas, 62 hours 53 minutes) making it all the way to number 14 – in a field of 400. Alas, the ultimate winner of the Impreza WRX grand prize turned out to be a Singaporean soldier who was taking on the challenge for the third straight year. That’s resiliency for you!

Still, there really is no shame in the performance of Team Philippines. The Pinoys showed a lot of pride – and solidarity – something we all should be proud of. Perhaps in next year’s Subaru Challenge Team Philippines can learn and further improve on its performance – and in the end bring home the bacon, er, Subaru Impreza WRX!