Riding with the B.O.S.S.

CEBU, Philippines – It took a while for the Manila motorcycle club called B.O.S.S. – for BMW Owners Society of Safety Riders – to come to Cebu. Being a BMW motorcycle owner since the early 1980s, I had been invited by then B.O.S.S. President Francis Rivera to join the club. But I was by my lonesome at that time, when all the BMW motorcycles in Cebu were the old pre-1980s models; and I politely declined the invitation.

At the passage of time, the BMW dealership has come to Bacolod and Cebu and we are now seeing more than 30 BMWs hereabouts, many of them acquired brand-new, costing more than a million bucks each. And so enters the Cebu Chapter of B.O.S.S. with Chief Supt. Prudencio “Tom” Bañas of Police Regional Office (PRO-7) as Chairman of the Board. Renato “Jun Jun” Osmeña, Jr. is President; Dr. Arnold Tan is Vice-President; Cristina B. Monte, Secretary; Franklin Tan, Treasurer; Kenneth Lopez, Outreach Program Head; and Clifford Gairanod, Committee on Membership. They have 26 members and consider themselves not only as a motorcycle club, but also a service-oriented club.

I have been riding motorcycles since 1973, and this I can say: Motorcycles have something that cars do not have – it’s called “brotherhood.” This holds for all true-blooded motorcyclists, regardless of race or creed or the motorcycles that they ride. When your motorcycle conks out on the road, chances are that other motorcyclists would stop to help you. But if your car conks out on the road, you’re really on your own!

Last October 31, I joined the members of B.O.S.S. for a short morning breakfast ride to West 35 up in Balamban. I counted more than 20 BMW motorcycles and I found the riders very responsible in the way they ride. They kept on their proper places without anyone overtaking the rider in front of him. Keeping proper pacing is a very responsible way of riding.

During breakfast, General Bañas told me that previously, on October 3, they had a joint medical mission in Barangay Gaas, Balamban where a total of 535 persons were treated and given free medicines. Senior citizens were given free anti-pneumonia vaccines; 220 others got anti-flu vaccines and 65 children were given anti-polio vaccines.

What I saw with B.O.S.S. was a new dimension in riding motorcycles. In the past, we would meet up to organize our long trips either to Mindanao or to Negros, Samar or Leyte. But that breakfast ride was a meeting as to where B.O.S.S. would conduct its next medical mission.

Of course, the sense of humanitarian service in the medical mission doesn’t take away the thrill of the bike ride. It has only made the activity more meaningful, considering that the club members go out of their way to help the needy, something that our Lord Jesus Christ has taught us: “When you gave to the poor, you did this for me.” I am looking forward to more B.O.S.S. motorcycle trips in the next months to come.