As the sun began to rise and the glare of the sunlight slowly makes me realize the time of the workshop is near us, I can't help but wonder if I will be able to do the job and to preserve the rights of everybody on the streets and fight for every motorcycle rider in the country....
I packed up my stuff, double checked my gear and logged of my station... I told my boss that I am ready to leave the office to fight the biggest fight of my life as a motorcycle rider... Since she has known the advocacy of this issue we are facing, she bid me farewell and good luck...
So I headed down to the basement of my office building and warmed up my motorcycle as I slowly geared up for the ride to the LTO office...
On the road, all sorts of thoughts and ideas come rushing through my head... My life was also literally flashing in front of my eyes as I slowly but surely traverse through the traffic on EDSA... I even thought to my self, am I taking this thing too seriously? My life and my family is already feeling the changes since I started taking up this issue... I even said to my self, what if my family tells me to stop and to go back to being a private person... Will I listen to them or do I continue on to what I have started...
As I arrive, I immediately scan the area for the best possible parking for my motorcycle... As I was parking, I see a familiar face and scooter... Alas, one of my good friends, BoyG has arrived together with me... I felt a sense of relief as his presence brought back the energy I lost through out the night from working... Then I said to my self, yes, I am going to do this and I will continue to do this whatever happens...
We started walking towards the LTO main building when another familiar face greeted us... Mr. Edwin Go, the president of the Motorcycle Dealers Association of the Philippines, greeted us with a warm smile and an excited look on his face... The first thing he said was, "Good morning! Are you ready Jobert?" I proudly said, yes I am ready...
The weeks, days, hours and minutes that have passed since the beginning of this issue suddenly came rushing to me... I thought of all the hard work that me and my brothers in the MRO and MAP did in preparation for this day... And I said to my self, I will not let this day pass without giving it my full effort to all the hard work that everybody has contributed...
As we walk towards the canteen, I was slowly gaining composure and thought of what to do next... I said to myself, I need energy... I need breakfast!!! Upon entering the canteen, I glanced upon Jake Swann and his lovely wife Michelle who is also accompanied by the very famous ASTEK of MEC who has become a part of MRO and MAP... I dropped my gear on the table and headed straight to the food... The smell of freshly cooked hotdogs and eggs gave me a sudden boost so I ordered and got to business...
After eating, Jake asked me how I was feeling and suddenly, like a sniper hitting it's target, my heart began to pump... I am nervous... But I am OK... And it felt strange and good... After eating, we all walked out the canteen and started our way to the LTO main building... As we climbed up the stairs, we were greeted by a couple of MDPPA (Manufacturers) representatives, a representative from Yamaha and my dear friend Don_Pangan who was ready and geared up for battle... Carrying enough paperwork on his backpack that is enough to make an office clerk cry...
We chatted and watched as one by one, the participants of the workshop started to arrive... We exchanged hi's and hello's towards each other and as for every person I have met prior to this day greeted me with a "Are you ready?" question at the end... Now the pressure was starting to build... And I was getting tense... I tried my best not to show it to anybody till Jake came by again and said, "Relax my friend, you will be alright."
As the time grew nearer, and the people started converging, a few more people came... Including a couple of controversial figures that I will not mention anymore out of respect and delikadesa... Now the attention shifts to the LTO personnel as they were trying to get the conference door open... I said to myself, nice way to start the day for the LTO personnel...
The moment they opened the door and called us inside, I immediately stormed in and went ahead of everybody to see whats inside... I saw a welcome table and soon after that, a big stage, with a huge projection monitor waiting for our presentation... I saw a good spot at the front and immediately got our my trusty leather folder and took out all my paper work... As soon as I was done setting up and arranging my paper work, I went over to help Jake's wife in setting up his laptop that I was to use for the presentation... With the cable hooked and the power up, I loaded my power point file and made sure everything was in order...
It took some time for the people to all come in and sign on the attendance sheet for the LTO... Once they all got settled down, Ms. Jacobo, got on the mic and welcomed us all... She then passed on the mic to Jake Swann who was the designated facilitator and told us about the two main agendas... The first was about the AO AHS-2008-015 and the second was the proposal to install a second license plate on our motorcycles... Then Jake told everybody that we will be broken up into groups after we hear the prepared presentation and some body from Safe Kids was going to talk about their stand on the issue of children on bikes...
I was already getting ready to stand up as Jake signaled me to start the presentation when Ms. Jacobo stood up and told Jake that he had the entire floor for the whole morning and said that there will be no more workshop after which she just bolted out and walked out on us... We were all caught by surprise... What the hell is happening? I was astounded by the sudden change of atmosphere and all I can do was stand in awe to what was happening in front of me and everybody else inside the room... As much as I would want to comment on what I just witnessed, thoughts crossed into my mind... Is this it? Are we done? Was this all a joke? Jake then walked up to me and told me to just do the presentation and he will try to see what's going on... So with out hesitating, I went up the pedestal and greeted everybody and just relied on Jake's ability to do damage control...
My introduction was a little weird but I got settled in quite quickly and as each word came out of my mouth... I gave a little speech about the importance of unity and camaraderie amongst the people in the motorcycle industry and community... After establishing our position that we are there to help the LTO, I went straight to business... The beginning of the presentation was going well... First topic was about the purpose and the goal of the presentation and how it is laid out and is intended to enlighten the questions that we are all asking... First off was about "Lane Splitting"... I gave a short discussion as to how it actually protects the riders from other vehicles and how other countries apply the same thing... Next topic was about apparel and how we support the movement to promote standard motorcycle helmets and nothing more... I then moved on to the most crucial and most discussed part of the AO... The modifications... I was initially indicating the parts and accessories mandated by RA 4136 to be installed a working properly on all vehicles including motorcycles...
We talked about the following:
Tires
- Motorcycle tires meant for road use
- No competition tires (Slicks)
Excerpts:
As per RA 4136, Article IV, Section 34, Letter (A): Tires of motor vehicles. - No motor vehicle with metallic tires shall be operated upon any public highway, and solid tires whenever used shall be of sufficient thickness to prevent the metal rims thereof from coming in direct contact with the road.
Brakes
- Brake Rotors
- Caliper
- Drum Brakes
- Hydraulic brake hose
Horns
- Should not be sirens or make equivalent tones used by emergency vehicles
Excerpts:
As per RA 4136, Article IV, Section 34, Letter (B-1): Every motor vehicle shall be provided with a horn or signaling devise in good working order: Provided, however, That no horn or signaling device emitting an exceptionally loud, startling, or disagreeable sound shall be installed or used on any motor vehicle.
All authorized emergency vehicles, such as ambulance and police cars and fire wagons used for emergency calls shall be equipped with a bell, siren, or exhaust whistle of a type approved by the Commissioner, and no such device shall be installed or used in any other vehicle.
Lights or Lamps
- Lights (head, brake, license plate light, auxiliary lights, signal lights)
- Headlights
Low beam should be adjusted so that it doesn’t create glare when following other vehicles or oncoming road traffic
Front lights should be angled properly
- Brake lights
Should be clearly visible from 50 meters or 164 feet away
- Taillights or license plate lights
- Auxiliary lights
- Signal lights
Excerpts:
As per Vienna Convention for Road Traffic, Chapter II, Section 39: Every motor vehicle, except a cycle, motor-cycle, moped, and every trailer shall be equipped with fixed direction-indicators with flashing amber lights, fitted on the vehicle in even numbers and visible by day and by night to road-users affected by the vehicle's movements.
As per RA 4136, Article IV, Section 34, Letter (F): Additional lamps may be carried provided they comply with the preceding provisions of this section.
As per RA 4136, Article IV, Section 34, Letter (F): Motorcycle and other vehicle lights. - Every motor vehicle of less than one meter of projected width shall be subject to the preceding provisions of this section, except that one headlight and one taillight shall be required. No signal light shall be necessary.
Additional lamps may be carried provided they comply with the preceding provisions of this section.
Every motor vehicle, or whatever style, kind, make, character, or nature, when upon a highway during the hours above-mentioned, whether in motion or not, shall have one or more lights so arranged that the same shall be visible at least fifty meters from the front and the rear of such vehicle.
As I was nearing the end of the lights category of my presentation, I was relieved to see Jake coming back into the conference room but this time, together with a few other people including LTO Commissioner, Roberto Suansing, Senior Supt. Dennis Siervo, chief of the HPG National Capital Region Office, and Daisy Jacobo... I was signaled by Jake to cut the presentation and to pass the mic over to Mr. Suansing...
Mr. Suansing's short speech was enlightening and very positive so to speak... He said that he hopes that the out come of the workshop will give better clarification as we work with them in solving the issues... He then passed the mic back to Ms. Jacobo who then introduced Supt. Siervo...
I was not surprised by the sternness of the HPG Cheif and his mandate to uphold the law... Although he has shown a little err on the side of riders by mentioning the term "criminal elements" a little to many, I personally thought that this person has not met the good side of the community... I stood silently and continued to listen to his remarks... During his small talk, he spoke of the apprehensions they did during the past few weeks on motorcycles and 4 wheeled vehicles alike... He assured us that in his branch of the PNP, there is no discrimination on bikes and that we can take a look for ourselves that there are actually more cars impounded in Crame than any other vehicles... One thing caught my attention though... He also mentioned that their group started apprehending motorcycles with rear sets... Due to the position of the rider on the bike, it gave him the idea that these bikers are actually intending to race on the streets... Is this for real?!? Since when did the LTO pass the torch on to the PNP?!? I thought the LTO is the only ones who are supposed to do the apprehensions?!? The initial statement was only the LTO deputized agents are allowed to do this?!? Now they suddenly become automatically deputized with out us knowing about it?!? At this point, I already became doubtful of the whole situation...
After a few more topics and a few questions were addressed by the participants, the mic was placed back in Ms. Jacobo's hands... She all of a sudden began prepping for the division of the participants for the actual workshop session... Hey wait a minute, I haven't finished my presentation... I then walked over to Ms. Jacobo and asked her politely if I could possibly finish my presentation since it basically talks about the issues that are to be tackled in the workshop... To my surprise, she shot me down by calling my presentation a waste of her time and announced and asked the people in the room if they would rather start the workshop or listen to the presentation... The thing is, my presentation is the workshop in it-self and talks about what we are asking to clarify... Then she blurted out that we have a time limit and that we are rushing for time... She said that we needed to finish by 12 and she practically gave the people no choice but to agree with her to start the group assembly...
I was distraught... I was talking about it already... All the hard work and the issues we studied about suddenly became a picture of a toilet bowl flushing... From this point, I then realized that she didn't want to hear it at all... When in fact, it is the same exact thing that was the basis for the groups to tackle and give recommendations for... In fact, at the end of the group discussions, I realized how everybody in the workshop was on the same page as the presentation it self... We could have saved them the effort and just did a whole group discussion right after the presentation... But they had to do it their way and the presentation had to be put aside...
At this point, I was ready to lay down my arms... Then I said to my self, what the heck... I'll just try to run down the group discussions based on my presentation...
I was part of group 4... We were all given a piece of paper, a ball pen, a piece of manila paper and a pentel pen... Nice... It's like an activity in school... Anyway, as our group coursed through the issues, we were one with our recommendations and suggestions on each topic... About the "lane splitting", "protective devices", "modifications" and "additional license plates"... We all came to an agreement that lane splitting should be allowed because it protects us from harm on the streets... Protective devices should only be the mandatory motorcycle helmets, nothing more, nothing less... The regulation of modifications should be done during registration, allowing the BPS, DTI and LTO check and give approval to the parts being sold in the market, promoting the certification of shops to perform these modifications and last but not the least, to take the apprehension of riders off the streets... And finally, to consider the further study in the question of supply and demand for the plates and the who will be shouldering the cost of the so called "front plates"... I was tasked by my group to do the presentation on behalf of group 4... As I said my piece, I tried my best to plug in some of the important aspects of the presentation the MAP, MRO, MRC worked on tirelessly...
As we listened to every group talk about the issues they wanted to address and what their recommendations were, we were basically in agreement and in harmony that the apprehension based on the grey areas of the AO should stop and should be done a different way... Although each group said it a different way, the general thought is the same... At this point, my anger and frustration for being shot down in the midst of my presentation slowly disappeared... Why? Because I realized that the people who were there were after the same thing... To re-iterate the mandate and to amend or suspend the AO while it is still being defined or given an implementing rules and regulations as to specific parts which should or should not be regulated... Each group said their piece and from then on, we were already working as one and our stand was all the same... Now the question that lingers is, will the LTO take it into consideration and will they actually use the material gathered in fixing the AO of it's grey areas...
Here are some of the stuff I noticed during the group discussions... We were initially told that we had until 12NN to do the group study and create recommendations that will be presented during lunch... After a few minutes into the session, we were cut short by Ms. Jacobo and were told that she had changed her mind and that we only had 25 minutes to complete the activity... I mean what the hell?!? Now my doubts about the sincerity of the LTO only grew bigger and bigger... After each group has passed their recommendations, Ms. Jacobo told us that she has collected all the papers and that she will be giving it to a technical working group who will work on them?!? Oh my GOD!!! I thought we were the technical working group?!?
Shortly thereafter, a short Q&A session was facilitated by MS Jacobo herself... Mr. Edwin Go then raised the most crucial question of them all... "What are we to do while the AO is being reviewed and fixed? Is there a possibility that we put this AO into a hold status so that we get to protect the riders from being scrutinized, apprehended and fined unfairly because of this AO?" I was astounded by the reply and was greatly disappointed that after the unanimous testaments by the people inside the room about how people are being apprehended and being denied registration, she said it is all hearsay until she is given hard evidence of the events that we are all crying foul for... She was being hard on the point that without proof or documentation that what we are saying is true, then there is no need for us to throw questionable incidents relating to the apprehensions and registry denials influenced by the AO... For one, I personally thought of her way of shooting every question down with another question as a complete and total disregard of our call to sit down and work together in making this AO how it should be... A clear and properly defined IRR as to the promotion of equality, safety and freedom in the roads and on our machines... One of the lines she blurted out that I can't seem to shake off my head is, "If you can't show me hard evidence, kumain na lang kayo jan!"... So much for that I guess...
As I quietly sat on a chair and recollected everything that has transpired, I can't help but wonder where we were in terms of positioning ourselves in the face of the LTO... Although it has been established that all the groups who participated were united into the movement to clear the AO of it's grey area, I can't help but wonder if it was enough for the LTO to actually do something about it... All we can do now is to wait and see what they do to separate the right from wrong in the adverse effects to the community and the industry through this AO... As to the timeline before we hear something from them, we shall still seek the compilation of hard evidence of the corruption and wrong interpretation of the enforcers who uses the AO against us...
As far as the work of the MAP and MRO is concerned, we have only just begun... We shall not stop here and we shall continue to fight for our rights...
I would like to thank and congratulate the participants of the workshop who has done a tremendous job in working to get their recommendations and voices heard... We have to stay as one and we have to watch out for the things to come...
Thank you to everybody who has supported us and we hope that you will still continue in supporting our movement in seeking better governance in the streets and the agencies concerned...
Although, a part of me feels that I have failed the community by being unable to deliver the message that we wanted to show the LTO, I hope you all understand that we will not back down even if the events in the LTO weren't completely favorable... We will continue and we will prevail no matter what the cost...
For those who wish to get a copy of the presentation, I will be giving MCP a copy that will be made available to everybody via download... Although a lot of my discussions with in that presentation is not written, you may request a meeting or conference with us so that we can deliver to you our position and stand that we share with the rest of the industry and community... You can course your invitations through the MRO sub forums or simply contact me, don_pangan, Jake Swann, ASTEK, H3nr1, BoyG, freeman010 and the other clubs who has seen and listened to the presentation... We will be more than happy to visit you or welcome you here in my house for the presentation...
Thank you and may God bless us all!!!
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