All in the name of making a living?

Indeed an abused and overused excuse by many in the country in order to go around the law – “Nag hahanap buhay lang po kami. Mas mabuti na po ito kaysa magnakaw.” (We are just trying to make a living. This is better than stealing.)

We doff our hats to Manila Mayor Alfredo “Dirty Harry” Lim for showing political will in not allowing a flagrant violation of the law – the continued operation of “kuligligs”.

“Kuligligs” are improvised, makeshift motorized tricycles. They are presently considered as not roadworthy and cannot be registered with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and are therefore illegal vehicles. They do not have identifying serial numbers and as such, cannot be insured.

So how can a motorized vehicle without any roadworthy approval from the land transport agency of the country, which cannot be insured, be allowed to run in our streets? Who shall answer for damages, injuries or worse death if these vehicles figured in accidents?

Many motorists are of the opinion that it is bad enough for some local government leaders, mostly for political reasons, to allow motorized tricycles access to main roads. But to allow these unsafe and untraceable vehicles to run in the streets is something that’s unacceptable to many.

And many in the media, I’m sorry to say being a media man myself, is not helping the issue any by depicting those who flagrantly violate the law as victims of people who uphold the law. And for what – TV ratings?

The “kuligligs” and for that matter any vehicle that is not allowed by law to be in the streets should be kept out of the streets for the paramount safety concern of the general motoring public, which includes motorists, pedestrians and commuters.

We support Mayor Lim in this issue although we also wonder if we would still have this problem if it was nipped in the bud. Would their numbers have grown if they were not allowed to stay for a little while before they were totally banned?

Just asking.

Due credit to the LTO

The relentless drive of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to rid the ranks of legitimate Private Emission Testing Centers (PETs) of scalawags is indeed worthy of note.

It appears that current LTO head, Assistant Secretary Virgie Torres is hell bent on padlocking PETs that have been proven to issue spurious Emission Certificates to vehicles without actually having subjected them to actual emission tests or what’s commonly known as “non-appearance” testing.

The latest word has it that with the help of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), 14 PETs are facing revocation of their authority to operate with 2 actually being closed down and another 43 about to be served show cause orders.

There are legitimate businessmen who answered the call of the government to invest on testing facilities that the government could not afford to buy in order to meet the provisions of the Clean Air Act. These scrupulous entrepreneurs are in jeopardy because of a few unscrupulous ones.

And what’s more paramount is that these unscrupulous PET owners are direct contributors to the country’s pollution by allowing vehicles that would normally fail the emission tests (main reason for non-appearance) run on the country’s roads.

And how true are the allegations that majority of those caught practicing the despicable “non-appearance” practice are all using the LTO’s major connectivity supplier?

Shuttling in style aboard Vespa scooters

I failed to make it for the launch of the Limited Edition Vespa in the country, which was held a few weeks ago at the High Street of Bonifacio Global City. I circled no less than four times around the area looking for a parking space in vain until I decided to contact multi-brand auto tycoon Willy Tee Ten, head honcho of MotoItalia, exclusive Philippine distributors of Vespa, to send my regrets.

Fortunately my TV crew left early enough to be able to grab a place to park to chronicle the launch, which my crew described as impressive. Well, you cannot expect anything less from our good friend, Willy.

As I gathered from the report and footage provided by my TV coverage team, the Limited Edition Vespas are available in 4 variants and in one color per variant only. These are the Vespa LV 150i Touring in Maroon, Vespa GTV 300 in Montenapoleone, GTS 300 Super Sport in Titanium and the Vespa LX 150ie in Rosa Chic.

If present stocks of these stylish 2-wheel transporters from the legendary Italian scooter maker Vespa would last, we’ll find time to feature them in our Bike World segment of our TV show Motoring Today.

Auto-Moto Endurance Challenge

It all started five years ago with only motorbikes running. However, in January this year, automobiles joined in and it’s now a big, much-awaited yearly affair.

The Boss Ironman Challenge started in 2005 as an exclusive event among members of the Boss Motorcycle Club. The idea was patterned after a similar endurance event in the US called the Iron Butt. The initial challenge to the group was to safely ride a prescribed route traversing from Manila to Nueva Ecija to Tuguegarao on to Vigan then Baguio and finally ending in Clark for a total of 1,200 kilometers within 24 hours.

According to a brief history of the event as provided by our good friend and Valle Verde Country Club badminton peer, Liliana Lopez, who’s also helping out putting this great event together, the Boss Ironman Challenge had 12 riders taking up the challenge in its first year, which doubled in the second year’s staging. As the event’s popularity grew, it was opened to members of other motorcycle clubs, a move that produced an overwhelming response from motorbike enthusiasts, which dramatically raised the number to 200 participants in 2009.

During the last staging in January of this year, the event was opened to car clubs like the Miata Club of the Philippines and the Manila Sports Car Club where a driver and co-driver were allowed to man each automobile for the 24-hour endurance run. Aside from the variety of motorcycle brands that participated, the 2010 Ironman Challenge saw classic automobiles and sports cars like Porsches, Mustangs, Subarus and Miatas running.

The big day for the next Ironman Challenge will be a month from now, to be precise on January 8, 2011 and you can get more information of what’s now turning out to be an institutional annual event for motorcycle and automobile buffs alike by logging on to their event’s website, www.ironmanchallenge.com.ph.

Happy Motoring!!!

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