Here it is...
Meeting took place at the LTO main office, at about 2:30 pm, August 13, 2008.
A lot of people attending... Club presidents and representatives... Representatives from the manufacturers namely, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Motorstar and Suzuki... MCPF, MSF, MAP and a few media personnel... And a few other people representing different sectors...
First off, we were greeted with a slight disappointment when we were told that Mr. Suansing was summoned to attend a meeting with the DOTC hence, he could not attend to the said meeting... Instead, he sent in the people who actually made the AO to meet us and speak to us directly about it... They were compromised by two men, one of which is an attorney, and a lady who spoke to us most of the time... They had another person assisting them on the side which I will not name for now... As for the three who attended, I will name them later... I am in the process in getting their full names and designations on LTO so that I won't make any mistake... So please forgive me on this...
Of the bat, they immediately came defending the purpose of the AO and what it stands for... According to them, the AO was made in lieu of the safety of the rider, the other motorists on the roads and the pedestrians...
We acknowledged the fact that the idea behind the AO was in-fact good and most of the topics in the AO, are actually good...
In the beginning, the discussion was mostly random and it shifted from topic to topic with out direction... It started from the apprehending by the law enforcers on the streets, to the topic of lane splitting, back to modifications and what not...
Then somebody asked the question about modifications again and this time, with conviction... Now here is where it becomes rowdy and complicated... The initial statement was about the apprehensions being made on the streets regarding certain modifications that are questionable like the tires, mag wheels, suspension, lights and so on and so fourth... They hit us back immediately about clip on handle bars that are not properly seated or is subject to un-necessary movement, front forks that protrude from the said handle bars and so on and so fourth... Hence the start of the argument on the importance of declaring which is illegal and which is not...
This was shortly misdirected again to the apprehensions happening everywhere and what the LTO can do to stop the abuse from happening because of the gray area on the word "modifications"...
Then the following statements from the LTO came... "The only people who are allowed to do the inspection and apprehension for modifications are the LTO deputized agents carrying an LTO id as big as a half sheet of paper with Suansing's signature, A letter from the LTO deputizing them for carrying out the said AO, a copy of the LTO ordering them to conduct the operation and a copy of the AO itself... Without these, nobody else can or is deputized to carry out the apprehending of people violating the AO"...
This is why I said that tickets, and sworn statements are important... Because we will contest it and file complaints against the people abusing the said order...
Moving on, we were calling on the suspension of the AO while we form a technical group to fix these gray areas of the said law... However, LTO didn't want to go towards that direction... In addition to that, the three who met with us admitted to the fact that they were the ones who made the AO and also admitted to not knowing more than any of us who attended the meeting... Actually, a previous workshop that was held a few moths ago that tackled some of the issues in this AO was not even used to create this one... Whether or not they got any advice from anybody, this indicates that although the AO was created for the promotion of safety on the streets for motorcycles and pedestrians, the technical aspect was not discussed or was given any attention to...
With this discovery, the LTO now realized the importance to of our advice for them to create a technical working group to meet for a workshop that will determine the road worthiness of a motorcycle... The workshop is scheduled to take place on September 10, 2008... Now, we will make sure that the members of the workshop shall be compromised by people from MCP, some clubs, MAP, MCPF, MSF and the manufacturers... We will ask the appointed conductors of this workshop to put as much of us in so that we can determine the validity of the proper definition of which is road legal and illegal... This way, we can properly outline and determine which modifications would be safe on the roads and which modifications would be unsafe...
With this realization, we then took the opportunity to tackle the AO part by part... Hitting on one topic followed by the other, stating which areas we would like to sit down on and re-define on September 10... This was acknowledged by the representatives of the LTO one by one and this is where we stand:
1. We need to run the technical working group or workshop in order for us to help the LTO define each part of the motorcycle and what modifications are acceptable by the manufacturer's standards...
2. We need to run the technical working group or workshop to determine the proper and allowable cargo/carriers/bags on a motorcycle...
3. We need to run the technical working group or workshop to determine the ruling on electrical accessories such as lights, horns etc, etc...
4. We need to re-define the scope and parameters determining the extent or circumstances that will allow us to lane-split...
5. We need to identify the duly appointed officers who can carry the apprehensions based on the AO...
6. We need to publicly announce and share the information on a nationwide scale...
Since we are talking directly to the people who drafted and made the AO, we hope to have a better footing for it's revision after the workshop...
Personally, I am on a neutral state about my feelings... I wanted to get a suspension while we work on the solutions and properly defining the laws but, I realized that that request will not happen for us since their option is to do a workshop that will create the proper definitions that will amend the said AO... I am somewhat dissatisfied that we cannot stop the operations from happening and stop the other agencies that has used this AO to harass our fellow riders on the streets... I am somewhat glad that the LTO realized the vagueness of their laws and the need to run the workshop in-order to fix the missing links and patch the holes with the right definitions...
I wouldn't call this a win for us but, I wouldn't call it a loss also...
Now it's time for us to do what is necessary to provide as much information and technical research to present on the workshop in about a months time from now... This will hopefully become the basis in which we defend the rights of motorcycle riders to modify and enhance our rides...
The MRO will conduct another meeting soon to talk about this and everybody is invited to join us... We will also start the application for lieutenants for MAP who will help us do the other things we have set to do to support this movement...
For now, stay tuned and you are open to discuss your opinions and ideas so that we can add them in the days to come...
We will prevail...
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