More SPMJ road safety seminars & workshops

The old adage that says "When it rains, it pours" is really apt to describe how the "Early Warning" seminars and workshops on road safety being conducted by SPMJ (Society of Philippine Motoring Journalists) are being held one after another recently.

Early Warning seminars are aimed to train teachers of chosen schools on how to teach their students how to be safe and responsible road users. Workshops are also held among the top students of these schools to impart to them the basics of road safety so they can pass these on to the other students and create more awareness regarding its importance.

Currently, SPMJ has been working closely with Toyota Motor Philippines and Ford Group Philippines in carrying out these seminars and workshops. These two automobile giants are supporting SPMJ’s advocacy to educate the youth on road safety and responsible use by underwriting the costs of the seminars and workshops that are conducted in the schools that they wish to "adopt".

Recently, several schools in Parañaque City were added to the list of 20 schools that would be "adopted" by Toyota Motor Philippines. The schools were organized by the Parañaque Chamber of Commerce & Industry led by Ernie Evasco and the city’s DepEd Division Superintendent, Dr. Eduardo V. Lopez.

One of these schools is the Dr. Arcadio Santos NHS, which is headed by school principal Dr. Urbano E. Agustin, where 20 faculty members and 41 high school students participated.

The other school is the Parañaque City College of Science & Technology with Dr. Cresencia H. Rosales as college administrator and elementary principal, where 1st and 2nd year college students and elementary school teachers of Parañaque Elementary School attended.

After the seminars and workshops several measures were programmed to be taken in order to ensure that awareness to road safety would continue to be propagated within the schools and these include; integration of road safety in their weekly drills and activities in English, Tagalog and H.E. subjects like teaching traffic signs in the imperative sentences, publish road safety articles in school papers to reach more students and parents, simulation of right and wrong practices when commuting and walking to school, initiate a "jingle-writing" contest on road safety and traffic signs, harp on the importance of discipline and respect for traffic authorities and commuters, integrate the topic in HEKASI when discussing "Tungkulin at Pananagutan ng Mamamayan", setting a safety awareness week in August and many more innovative ideas concocted by the teachers and students alike.

SPMJ in cooperation with Toyota Motor Philippines and Ford Group Philippines will be knocking on many more doors of schools to have these seminars and workshops to teach how we can all be safe and responsible road users.

Subaru has arrived – together with Nicky and Ariel

Three, not two nor one, models of Subaru were simultaneously launched last week on a wet rainy day. The Chinese will say nothing else but this is a sign of luck. But at the rate these models are being presently gobbled up by the market, what can I say to this Chinese belief — or the guys Nicky and Ariel are just that good — and lucky?

Motor Image Pilipinas, Inc. is the country’s exclusive distributor of quality vehicles bearing the Subaru brand and it’s being headed by Nicky Mariano as general manger and Ariel de Jesus, who I fondly call "anak" as marketing manager — Toyota Motor Philippines alumni both. These two young guys, but veterans of the local automotive industry, have both made sharp turns in one of their life’s crossroads, to head the newest player in the local auto industry.

Actually, Subaru was formerly distributed in the country through General Motor’s Auto World. But according to Mr. Kei Ono, general manager of Subaru Overseas Division, in our short chat after the media conference that preceded the launch, they were convinced that being only one of the brands being carried in an array of other brands, was not in their best interest, so they decided to put up Motor Image Pilipinas, which is a subsidiary of Motor Image Enterprises Pte. Ltd. The official distributor of Subaru in Asia based in Singapore to handle the brand in an exclusive and focused basis in the Philippines.

Also in town for the launch was the youthful Regional Chief executive of Motor Image Enterprises, Mr. Glen Tan, who was very optimistic about the market acceptance of the Subaru models that were launched and the others in the pipeline. He considers the performance awareness of many in the local market as a plus factor for their marketing strategies considering that Subaru has always been synonymous to performance owning to their excellent winning records in most international motor sports especially in the most grueling and challenging World Rally Championship (WRC).

The models that were launched included the Outback 3.0, a luxury station wagon and Subaru’s flagship "Crossover" model. Another is the Impreza WRX with a 2.5 liter turbo engine, which they call the "future profile of pure performance motoring" and the Forester — "the ultimate crossover SUV".

You can check out al of these remarkable Subaru models at their showroom located along EDSA near the corner of Ortigas Avenue in San Juan.

We would like to welcome back Subaru to the Philippines and our congratulations to Motor Image Pilipinas on their successful opening and grand launch — way to go, Nicky and Ariel!

A new car for a total wreck

A new-for-old vehicle replacement for total loss during the first 12 months of registration is one of the unique benefits that are being offered by the BMW Premium Motor Insurance, a product underwritten by Philam Insurance that provides comprehensive coverage exclusively for buyers and owners of brand new and certified pre-owned BMW vehicles from Prestige Cars.

According to Ms. Maricar Cristobal-Parco, vp for marketing of Prestige Cars BMW, other benefits offered by the BMW Premium Motor Insurance include a P2,000.00 per day "loss of use" allowance during accident repairs at authorized BMW workshops (that’s daily compensation for not being able to enjoy the pleasure of driving or riding your BMW while it’s being fixed), protection against acts of God and civil commotion and third party bodily injury and property damage coverage.

If you would only take the time to meticulously examine and analyze the motor car insurance policy that covers your motor vehicle, you might find out that many of those being covered by this particular insurance are not covered in yours.

Our good friend Maricar would be happy to answer any of your questions about the BMW Premium Motor Insurance and of course about any of the BMW models currently in the market or their future offerings. Just give the pretty lady a visit at Prestige Cars BMW at Pasong Tamo Extension in Makati or give her a call.

Motoring Tip of the Week

As driving through flooded streets can be a way of life in the metro during the rainy season, we continue giving you tips and friendly reminders on how to safely maneuver your vehicles when the rains come and the water rises.

Always watch out for whirlpools when you drive through the floods. You can easily recognize these as they seem to drain water with the water forms into a circle. These whirlpools are definitely holes in the street where you can have your wheels stuck. Now, there are also some open manholes that we should watch out for. If they’re the ones that drain water, there would be a whirlpool, which you would have the chance to notice. The dangerous ones are those that do not drain and not visible nor discernable. Those are the "Hail Mary" types — you just have to pray not to get your vehicle stuck into them while driving through the floods.

Happy Motoring!!!

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