Why burden the motorists?

The running issue that involves motorists, vehicle owners in particular, which cropped up late last year and remains unresolved is the project of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to install Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) on all motor vehicles in the country.

The proponents of the project, which is aspearheaded by LTO chief Arturo Lumibao, describes the RFID as a system that allows electronic verification of vehicle identity and data. These are vital information that can immediately identify if a vehicle were out of line or a colorum (for public utility vehicles) or had a different plate from what it was registered with (and therefore may have been stolen) would then be readily electronically accessible through the system.

Those against the project have come up with a litany of issues against it. Primarily it is claimed as being anomalous considering that the multi-million venture was awarded without the conduct of a public bidding, which unfairly and solely benefited LTO’s current IT contractor, Stradcom. Many transport groups have declared that the project as basically illegal because it was not submitted to the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) for review, an allegation reportedly confirmed by no less than NEDA director general Agusto Santos.

Then there’s also this apprehension that the RFID tags could act as a “spy chip” that can be used to determine and document the whereabouts and route of motorists, which is a blatant violation of the citizenry’s right to privacy.

The LTO however made an assurance that the tags would not have a Global Positioning System (GPS), which could tract the location or movement of vehicles and that it can only retrieve data within a radius of 10 to 12 meters of the vehicle’s location and the system is only envisioned to promote public safety and vehicle security.

Although recent reports have it that the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chairperson Leila de Lima has stated that she believes that the project will not violate this right to privacy of motorists, she has however qualified that “it would be a question again of proper implementation and the people who will implement it.”

Of course the other issue why many motorists, especially the transport groups, are against the project is that of having to spend for these RFID tags. To many, especially those who make barely enough from their earnings to survive, the involved amount of P350.00 for the RFID tag can spell the difference between having to eat 2 or 3 meals on a given day. However, those who are not in such a pitiful league find an issue on the prospect that the motorists would still have to shoulder an expense for a job that is mandated of the LTO – determining the vehicles that are colorums and those public utility vehicles that are out of line and those fraudulent private vehicles running in our country’s roads.

The issue of cost of the RFID project has again brought out the question of “Where did all those funds from the ‘Road Users Tax’ go?” Some quarters are of the firm belief that if the justification of the LTO for the RFID project is to be taken into account, which is partly “to promote public safety”, then this would form part of the rationale for the collection of the “Road Users’ Tax” from all of the country’s motor vehicle owners since the time of former President Joseph Estrada.

I have sought out the principal sponsor of the “Road Users’ Tax” bill, Congressman Danilo Suarez, who was also once a member of the “Road Board”, if not still, regarding the prospect of having the project underwritten by government funds and he promised to fill me in ASAP on the legal possibility of having the RFID project totally funded from the very controversial “Road Users’ Tax Fund” from the point of view that it is for the purpose of promoting public safety or simply because it is suppose to specifically involve the well-being of Philippine motoring.

Should this be the case, those against the RFID project could probably now rest easy regarding their claims that the project is basically illegal due to the fact that it was not passed for review by the NEDA, because then this time it would need to be. And also the issue of not having any public bidding then, for this time it would need to go through the legal bidding process.

If the RFID project were to be fully funded by the proceeds of the Road Users’ Tax Fund, it would be a win-win for everybody involved – the motoring public would not have to be burdened by its cost, the Road Users’ Tax Fund would have been spent wisely – at least part of it (perhaps making it less controversial, but still is), the project would then have to be reviewed by the NEDA making it legal, there would be a need for more transparency in the awarding of the project and the LTO would be able to have easier time identifying which vehicles are legally on the road from those that are not (to begin with, that’s LTO’s justification) – therefore everybody wins.

Well, not really everybody. But at least, perhaps those that do not deserve would not – maybe.

Biggest in the motor sport’s history

With 5 of the major auto industry players confirming their participation, the staging of the STV 2010 Auto Rally Corporate Challenge could be the biggest ever in terms of participation in the history of the “sampaguita rally” since it was first introduced in the country originally as the “Tulip Rally” in the late 60s.

The Rally Teams, which include Isuzu Philippines Corporation, Covenant Car Company (Chevrolet), Ford Group Philippines, Asian Carmakers Corp. (BMW) and Motor Image Pilipinas (Subaru) were the earliest to confirm signifying their intention to be part of the limited starting grid of the auto rally. With the teams fielding 5 vehicles each and each participating automobile being flagged at one-minute intervals, the event could only accommodate a limited number of participants or risk having to spend the whole day just to flag-off.

The Auto Rally Corporate Challenge is not a racing motor sport. Based on the sampaguita rally’s “on time, all the time” rules, it is judge by the participants’ ability to read and understand the route book and the skill to manage driving speed given the prescribed time to travel from one point to the next. Each participating vehicle would be composed of a tandem of driver/navigator, who can change roles at any time. Any vehicle that comes late or ahead of the prescribed time gets a demerit for every second. There will be checkpoints (the locations of which will not be known to the participants) in the middle of every stage to determine if the participating vehicle is running “on time all the time”. The participant with the least number of demerits wins.

For those who can still recall, the big names when this sport was in its glory days, the longest of which almost traversed the entire archipelago, included the country’s racing legend, the late Jose “Pocholo” Ramirez, Dante Silverio, Mandy Eduque, two former AAP presidents who are both deceased – Dodo Ayuyao and Tony Mapa, just to name a few.

The much-awaited motor sport event, which is scheduled on March 6, a Saturday shall flag-off at the Home Depot parking area in Julia Vargas, Ortigas Business Center all the way to Subic with a special stage at the entire length of the track of the Pocholo Ramirez Subic International Raceway.

The rally shall be officiated by Georges Ramirez of the famous Ramirez Racing Clan. Knowing all the bends, nooks and corners of Subic, he also plotted the rally’s tricky but very exciting route.

At stake in the STV 2010 Auto Rally Corporate Challenge would be the “Corporate Rally Champion Trophy” for the winning corporate team, which they can keep displayed in their office for the entire year until another team could lay claim to it. Three championship titles in the yearly event, not necessarily consecutive wins, would entitle the corporate team to keep the prestigious trophy for life.

There will also be an Individual Rally Champion as well as awards for several outstanding feats during the rally like the ones who get least demerits in all stages, the most accurate or the closest to the prescribed time, etc.

Tokyo Motor Show

TV Special

Tomorrow at 10 o’clock in the evening, you try tracking us down either on Channel 9 (Global-Destiny Cable Network) or Channel 13 (Sky Cable Network), for a special presentation of Auto Focus, the country’s premier auto TV magazine, which shall feature a glimpse of the recently-held 2009 Tokyo Motor Show at the Makuhari Messe, in Tokyo Japan.

See the latest automobiles that shall be launched very soon worldwide and a host of concept cars, most of which have the latest technology on alternative fuels that were displayed in the 41st staging of one of the four biggest motor shows in the world – the Tokyo Motor Show.

Happy Motoring!!!

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