As I was hurriedly writing this piece to meet my weekly column’s deadline I received no less than three calls of howling protests against the said fees considering the already escalating registration fees that vehicle owners are presently burdened with, effected by the "Road User’s Tax". As it is, vehicle owners are being taxed 25 per cent more every year since 2001 up to 2004 to raise funds for the maintenance of roads all over the country as mandated by Republic Act No. 8794.
The protesters are one in saying that motorists are being squeezed bone dry by all imaginable taxes that do not equate to competent services and visible results of well-managed use of funds raised out of such taxes.
Well, timely to this is our topic in the maiden telecast of the TV program, "Breaking Barriers", tonight at 10 PM on IBC TV 13 right after the PBA telecast, where my brother Rey and myself, as program hosts, will "grill" former Congressman of the 3rd District of Quezon, Danny Suarez, the principal author of that very controversial tax law, regarding its long-delayed implementing rules and regulations (IRR) and the fate of the now billions of pesos in collected tax revenues out of the "Road User’s Tax", which have been reportedly missing.
The Henry Ford Awards annually recognize works of local motoring journalists who submit their entries for the different categories like, Auto Innovation Story, Auto Event Story, Auto Industry Story, Published Photograph for Newspaper, to mention some. For this year each category has a winner’s cash prize of P25,000 while special category winners take home P35,000 for a total of P270,000 in prizes.
The Powerplant Mall’s Monk’s Dream was also the setting of the official launch of the Ford Conservation and Environmental Grants, which this year will have a total of P2 million to be awarded to deserving projects within the areas of conservation and preservation of the environment, culture and heritage. Complete information about this can be found on www.ecoford.com.
But the friendly and soft-spoken GM Philippines president, James Lim together with now top marketing honcho of GM, Nicky Mariano to include Bobby Shaw, manager for product planning and marketing services had sealed lips and would just rather have a leisurely evening with the media for food, booze, fun and drinks. Was that Nicky’s blowout for his new well-deserved promotion?
Tight-lipped as they were but there will indeed be another GM model coming up very soon and "my lips are not sealed", watch for it.
Kazuhiko Sho, IPC’s executive vice president in his inaugural anniversary speech continued to say, "Now, six years later, I am proud to say that our company has grown in leaps and bounds, performing well even amid harsh economic and political conditions in the country. And we see no better way to celebrate this special day than to be with the community."
And with the community indeed IPC chose to spend the whole day last July 31 as they installed a garbage trap and seeded Tilapia fingerlings (10,000 breeders) along the Laguna Lake.
Our best wishes to Isuzu Philippines Corporation on their 6th anniversary.
McLaren’s woes continue as Kimi Raikkonen crashed out of the race merely moments after the race began when he figured in an incident involving Rubens Barrichello of Ferrari and Ralf Schumacher of BMW-Williams. All three drivers were forced to bow out of the race, with Kimi’s car sustaining the worst damage. Aside from the three drivers, Justin Wilson’s Jaguar, Ralph Firman’s Jordan, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen’s Sauber were also forced to retire. Officials have penalized Ralf 10 places on the grid for the next race after deciding that it was he who caused what according to them was an "avoidable collision". Ralf himself said that he paid no attention to the position of the McLaren and the Ferrari on his left side when he was attempting the maneuver. The Williams team, however, is planning on appealing the decision.
After the massive crash approaching the first turn of the first lap, the race pretty much sailed smoothly from there, with the drivers hardly veering away from the order — Montoya, Trulli, Fernando Alonso, and then Michael Schumacher. With seven laps remaining however, Schumi decided to make his move and moved up to second place. Then again, Lady Luck was probably smiling in a different direction because his left rear tire went flat three laps later and he had to go on an unplanned pitstop. All was not lost for Schumi in his home race as he was still able to score two points for coming in 7th place. Despite starting from 17th on the grid, Jenson Button of BAR-Honda still managed to salvage a championship point. Toyota’s Christianno Da Matta came in 6th and is steadily improving with every race.
Schumi, Kimi, and Juan Pablo are within inches of each other in the driver’s championship. Expect these drivers to pull out all their stops in the four remaining races of the season.
Happy Motoring!!!
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