Sacrifice of a few for the greater good

It appears that the plans to put up centralized provincial bus terminals in the north and south corridors of Metro Manila are being blocked by some groups including some provincial bus operators themselves.

A long-time plan of several Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairmen of the past, it had always been bogged down by the lack of funds, not to mention the alleged strong lobby against it by the affected groups.

But current MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino has been reported to have the strong backing of President Noy Aquino no less to see this plan through after the President himself saw the difficulties of provincial commuters in such terminals.

It cannot be denied that though comfort, convenience and security for travelers can be had in these planned centralized bus terminals, added cost for the commuters is inevitable as they would no longer be located in the middle of the metropolis and would require added fare to reach these terminals at the fringes.

However, it cannot also be contested that banning the entry of these humongous provincial buses to Metro Manila or not having their terminals right in its midst would inevitably help reduce the traffic volume and ease congestion.

Hence, it would be the sacrifice of a few for the good of a much greater number of people.

YSS Road Safety School Tour kicks off

“On the morning of the day of the seminar I was praying hard that our students won’t be exploited,” was how candid Ms. Anita A. Cerilla, Assistant High School principal of Jose Rizal University (JRU) immediately after we wrapped-up the first of the 2011 Young Street Smarts (YSS) Road Safety School Tour seminar/workshop last Friday afternoon, July 1st. “Only to realize how lucky they have been to have their school chosen as one of the venues of these free seminars on road safety and us allowing it,” the veteran educator added.

About two hundred-fifty senior high school students filled the auditorium of this long-established learning institution located along Shaw Boulevard, Mandaluyong City that has names of prominent personalities like Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay, business tycoons Bienvenido Tantoco, Sr., Placido Mapa and Ralph Nubla, PNP chief Avelino Razon, Manila Mayor Mel Lopez, to name a very few in their roaster of illustrious alumni. The seminar participants were all ears and participative all throughout the teach-in and in the fun contests where prizes from participating automobile companies were given freely. The competitive games were held after every topic to review what has been taken up and determine how much have been assimilated and retained by the students from the workshop.

Created by Socio Com Foundation for Asia and organized and managed by Sunshine Television (STV), the school tour was conceived in order to promote further the more than two decades of road safety advocacy of STV through its flagship TV program Motoring Today, which is now on its 25th year of broadcast and uninterrupted service to the motoring public.

The focus on road safety education for the youth on the TV show started in 2010 with the creation of the weekly Young Street Smarts portion, which initially dwelt on Traffic Signs and Road Markings and now presently centers on basic Right of Way rules and would eventually move on to Road Courtesy and other vital topics relevant to road safety. A few months after the TV portion started to go on the air, the 2010 YSS Road Safety School Tour was started. There were a total of nine schools where the seminar/workshops were conducted. This year we have a target of having these free teach-ins in not less than ten schools. It can go a lot more depending on the number of schools willing to have them and on the school calendar limitations.

Our team was there at the JRU in full force lead by STV road safety consultant and seminar director, who was once the marketing top honcho of Honda Cars Philippines during the automobile company’s glory days and also former general manager of Honda Safety Driving Center (HSDC), Arnel Doria. We also had with us Socio Com executive director and STV vp for production Jennifer Bleza together with road safety instructor Neil Hindang, courtesy of Honda Cars Kalookan Driving School, one of the seminar’s sponsors, the entire TV production and coverage team of STV (to tape the proceedings and seminar highlights in all participating schools to be aired on the TV show Motoring Today) and the YSS Youth Road Safety Ambassador, my daughter Kristine or Tin but more popularly known as DJ Suzy to her numerous listeners on FM Radio Magic 89.9, who emceed the proceedings as well as took charge of the much-to-be-learned topic regarding Traffic Signs and Road Markings.

There were also representatives from some of the participating stakeholders from the local auto industry; namely Ms. Shirley Jutie of Volvo, Joey Uy and Nina Francisco who were designated by the very dynamic Joey Avellana of Avellana & Associates to represent Kia Motors and Ms. Yvette delos Santos of Honda Cars Kalookan Dealership and Driving School.

Aside from Ms. Cerilla, who was there to accept for JRU the 2011 YSS Road Safety School Tour’s Certificate of Participation at the end of the seminar/workshop, the university’s High School principal, Romel C. Navarro opened the proceedings with words of appreciation for the seminar organizers and words of encouragement for all the students who were about to learn more on how to be safe and responsible road users of the present and the future.

The next school in line is the Pasig Catholic College slated this Friday, July 8 to be followed by La Consolacion College located in Manila on July 15 and Claret School in Quezon City.

The 2011 Young Street Smarts Road Safety School Tour is a major CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) project presented by the Manila North Tollways Corporation (MNTC) in cooperation with Air21, PCSO and Pagcor with the participation of giant oil companies Petron & Caltex supported by the exclusive circle of local auto industry road safety stakeholders; Audi Philippines, Asian Carmakers, CATS Motors, The Car Covenant Company, Columbian Autocar, Viking Cars, Mitsubishi Motors Philippines and Toyota Motor Philippines.

Vote and win

As you can see, we have ballots printed here on the motoring section of The Philippine STAR for your votes for your favorite automobile models vying for the “Models of the Year” and “Automobile of the Year” titles of the 2011-2012 Auto Focus People’s Choice Awards. These ballots would be printed every Wednesday until the end of September 2011.

You can drop your ballots in any designated Air21 and Caltex service stations all over the country. And every time, you stand the chance to bring home valuable items in our “draw a prize for your vote” program. Items that you may win range from foldable fans, coffee mugs, eco-friendly bags, mini wall clocks, ball pens, etc. Aside from voting through these Philippine STAR ballots you can also vote online through our website www.autofocus.com.ph or in some designated Air21 outlets with online voting facilities.

All the names of those who cast their votes are electronically raffled every two weeks for prizes that include free 3 days and 2 nights stay at the Vistamar Beach Resort & Hotel, dinner for two at the Sports Den of Valle Verde Country Club, Sunshine TV corporate t-shirts, mini wall clocks, coffee mugs, etc. All you do is vote and you automatically stand the chance to win prizes.

The 2011-2012 Auto Focus People’s Choice Awards is presented by BDO Auto Loan in cooperation with Caltex with Techron and Official Courier Air21, official media partner Philippine STAR with major participation of Vistamar Beach Resort & Hotel and AGC Glass.

Spain and BMW

I would be doing some Travel Documentaries on some of the prominent tourism destinations in Spain for the next two weeks for our Business & Leisure TV show and STAR column.

We shall do this for the many Filipino travelers who have been wising to pay a visit to what many consider as our Mother Country but are clueless as to where best to go and how to go about it. And I’ll have to thank our friends from Asian Carmakers Corporation (ACC) for their support by providing us BMW vehicles as we go around Spain to tape the docu-series. Ms. Maricar Parco, ACC president, you’re an angel that’s heaven-sent.

I hope to send in some inputs on Spain’s motoring to this column in-between filming but if you knew how TV documentaries are produced, perhaps I may not.

Happy Motoring!!!

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