Dear Mister President

Just as a Sicilian is said to never refuse a request on his daughter’s wedding day, a politician is said to be much the same during a campaign period. This means there’s only a small golden window open between now and the May elections to put together a wish list, after which, traditionally, all those sharp ears become as dull as dishwater.

So, with that in mind, I address myself to our presidentiables – yes, even the nuisance candidates: Gentlemen, kindly listen up.

The auto industry represents approximately half a million votes. Have I got your complete attention yet? That is not including motorists, of course. These are just made up of the 77,000 jobs created directly by the manufacturers, and excluding those employed by the endless chain of parts suppliers of which there are many, many more. Most of those people have families.

Forward that last paragraph on to your campaign manager to work out the numbers while I take you on a little workshop on how to win these votes over.

Firstly, protect people’s jobs. We’re not asking for miracles here, or our version of a federal bailout, we are simply asking for you to commit yourself to strictly enforcing the smuggling laws that are currently in place. That’s it. No lengthy debates, referendums, lobbying congress, burning tires outside the Subic ports, just a simple yet powerful resolve to do what is right.

Had anyone had the balls to enforce Executive Order 156 back in 2002, we would most likely be exporting a bulk of our cars to Thailand, Japan and Korea, rather than the other way around, and would have completely recovered from the Asian Financial Crisis. Who knows, we may have even come up with the Wonder Girls.

Instead, in 2004, two years after a total ban was put in place, the illegal importation of used vehicles continued to rise and accounted for as much as 60% of total vehicle registrations. Now try and imagine all the revenue from that going back to the government coffers to build roads and bridges, and not just to a handful of personal pockets to build private armies and fortresses. It’s there for the taking, and its all fat free and perfectly above board.

The good news is it is not too late. And you, as a catalyst, could single-handedly claim credit for almost doubling the sales of one of our country’s largest industries overnight – and nobody – nobody but your opponents would begrudge that. It is a sweetheart deal. Enforce the ban, refuse to register any illegally imported car that arrived here after 2002, and voila! The auto industry now has an annual turn over of more than 200,000 vehicles. It’s that simple.

But wait, there’s more! Act now and you not only secure 77,000 direct jobs, plus countless other third party jobs from local suppliers, but you now send the Philippine automotive industry into the regional championships! That’s right! You, too, could have your own representative in the growing craze that is driving every developed nation out of recession!

Tell him what they win, Johnny.

Announcer: Well, according to Ms. Beth Lee, president of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, 200,000 cars per year is significant for three (3) reasons:

1. This is the magical number for multinational companies to consider putting in investments in automotive assembly. Anything less just falls off the radar.

2. The Motor Vehicle Development Program or the “auto industry road map’s” target was to attain 200,000 industry volume by 2008 – 50,000 units of which were for supposed to be exported. So you can tick that off your to-do list.

3. Total new registrations at the height of our auto industry sales in 1996 was over the 200,000 mark (exactly 242,067) cars. Yet the legitimate industry only sold 162,000 of those. If we did things right, we could have started recovery as early as year 2000, bounced back by 2002 and onwards to a stronger Philippine automotive industry that may even be a strong CKD assembly player in the region.

So, what are you waiting for? Opportunity only knocks once. If you hear another knock, it’s probably someone selling religion. Or Amway. Act now to avoid disappointment.

The Philippines, despite all its recent woes, still has a tremendous amount going for it. Call it the bayanihan spirit, or the unequalled generosity from our OFWs, but while most of the developed world watched helplessly as their financial capital districts melted down like neglected polar caps, the Philippine Automotive Industry still registered a whopping 6.4% growth. Against all odds.

Just think what you could do if you gave it a helping hand?