Everyday highway heroes

MANILA, Philippines – While I must admit that it is quite liberating to get to regularly rant via the Backseat Driver column, at times it can also be quite cumbersome. Dark and dreary can be exhausting, after all. Deep inside, we’d also love to rave. But let’s face it. How much good is there to write when we’re talking about the traffic, our co-motorists’ attitudes, Philippine style “service” and our roads in general? Thankfully, we do get little bits of uplifting news every now and then.

A couple of weeks back, James Deakin and I found ourselves attending the awarding ceremonies of Goodyear Philippines’ Bayani ng Kalsada (BnK) search. Now on its third year, the BnK search was originally conceived to promote the concept of road safety and courtesy amongst Philippine motorists. Patterned after its parent company’s Highway Heroes program, it sought to highlight the good side of the Filipino motorist by giving out awards to those whom other people felt deserved them.

The process itself is simple yet stringent. Only third party nominations are accepted. There is a long-drawn background investigation process observed. And a panel of judges reviews every single nomination before handing out any of the awards. (Our very own Ray Butch Gamboa sat in the board of judges over the past two stagings of the search.) The recognition comes with a bunch of prizes, of course. These include several of the event’s co-sponsors’ products and a hefty amount of cash from Goodyear Philippines.

This year, as opposed to years past, the judges handed out awards to a seemingly inconsequential bunch of motorists. Not a single one risked life and limb, for example. Not one saved a life through the actions that earned for them the title of Bayani ng Kalsada. But, as the event host and STAR columnist Cito Beltran himself stated during the awarding ceremonies, “These people didn’t do anything that any of us are incapable of doing. They simply did what they felt was right at the moment. And that in itself is heroism. Doing what’s right – no matter how simple – is always heroic.”

Juan Manalili, a seasoned mechanic and family driver, merely saw some students with car trouble along the road. Having already done his job and with time to spare, he stopped and made quick repairs to the students’ car. Offered some cash, he politely refused and simply went his way.

Rogelio Bolinto, a Benguet native, also went out of his way to help a troubled motorist – a pastor. Bolinto even went as far as to splice the rubber interior of his own vehicle’s spare tire so that he could use it as a temporary measure to get the pastor’s car running. Offered a meal for his troubles, just like Manalili, he simply refused and went his own way.

Eduardo Hagad, who works as a supply chain manager for a pharmaceutical firm, chanced upon two worried ladies along the highway whose tire was blown. The ladies did not have enough cash to have their vehicle towed. Hagad, without hesitation, gave them enough money to have the vehicle towed and – you guessed it – went his own way.

Jose San Jose, a jeepney driver, returned a brown envelope which contained important documents and cash to a passenger who had left it in his jeepney. Offered a job abroad by the passenger once he returned it, he politely refused and simply said that it was a gesture that he’d learned from his parents. No reward required, thank you very much.

Truth be told, James and I were dumbfounded at first. The awardees simply didn’t seem to create much of an impact. They merely embodied the everyday motorist who did the occasional good deed. Modern day good Samaritans, that’s what they were. Yet there we were, honoring them in a swanky hotel ballroom with industry bigwigs and government officials. Television crews and newspaper folk were all over them. And they, well, they couldn’t even grasp the magnitude of the symbolic pat on the back. They were all shy and unassuming, almost ashamed to be up on stage even!

And then it happened.

Cito, ever the introspective soul, shared the story of his village’s security guard’s little girl, who had been victimized in a vehicular hit and run incident just the night before the event. Cito said he was ashamed to be up on stage with these heroes knowing that he had an opportunity to emulate them but until that time hadn’t grabbed that opportunity. So he said it out loud, “You know what? I’m donating what Goodyear is paying me to host this event to that little girl. Because being amongst these heroes, it’s the least I can do.”

Not five minutes after Cito made his surprise announcement, Goodyear Philippines president Dave Morin came up on stage to declare that he was matching Cito’s personal donation as well. After a toast to the winners and the general good vibe that was going around, we felt we’d seen something really special unfold right before our eyes. If I’d brought my laptop to the event, I’d have grabbed the opportunity and written the story right then and there! It almost seemed surreal. We found out after the program, however, that we’d actually seen just the tip of the iceberg.

I was sipping coffee, ready to pack my things and start writing about what I’d just witnessed when Cito came up to me. He said, “Hey, chief. Before you go, listen to this. This’ll blow your mind. The winners? They chipped in whatever cash they had on hand and handed the bundle to me – for me to give to the little girl I was talking about. And one of them? One of them handed over his prize money – all of it.”

At this point I’d completely changed my perspective on the supposed “inconsequential bunch of winners”. Those judges obviously saw something in these guys that James and I didn’t. Because while they didn’t do any extraordinary feat to distinguish themselves from the everyday do-gooder, they had something a lot of us would do well to try to find within ourselves. They were brimming with character.

Simple, unassuming everyday highway heroes brimming with character… Yeah. We need more of these guys. We need more people to rave about.

Here are some of your Backseat Driver reactions and comments from last week’s “Out of the box…boxes” by Andy Leuterio…

What are the chances of seeing these “microcars” in showrooms anytime soon? I’ve seen smart cars in the city but I hear they are way overpriced. – smoothe (Unfortunately, these niche market cars are unlikely entrants into the Philippine market as economies of scale make it difficult for manufacturers to bring in cars that are not meant for mass consumption into a volume-wise very limited market.)

Hope you could post pix of some of these cars... – supremejmd (Normally we would, as you might have already noticed. However, this article being an opinion column, we were not able to. Feature articles will most definitely have accompanying photographs, however.)

I wish to see these Nanos as service vehicles of government officials, instead of those gas-guzzling SUVs. Or maybe some electric microcars that they can park at their homes. Better to see these being recharged at their home rather than giving them hefty gas allowances at OUR expense. A political will makes it possible but for sure if this is a government “project.” These vehicles that cost only P100K+ will reach a price range within the WRXs, EVO X, i30s bracket, for sure.    – KERSMcPherson

Speak out, be heard and keep those text messages coming in. To say your piece and become a “Backseat Driver”, text PHILSTAR<space>FB<space>MOTORING<space>YOUR MESSAGE and send to 2840 if you’re a Globe or Touch Mobile subscriber or 334 if you’re a Smart or Talk ’n Text subscriber or 2840 if you’re a Sun Cellular subscriber. Please keep your messages down to a manageable 160 characters. You may send a series of comments using the same parameters. Or you may log on to www.philstar.com and blog your comments.