Perhaps going private could make it work better

There are reports of plans by the Dept. of Transportation & Communications (DOTC) to privatize the operation and maintenance of the Motor Vehicle Inspection System or MVIS, the agency under the Land Transportation Office (LTO) that’s mandated to conduct tests to determine the roadworthiness, including the emission levels of public utility vehicles like jeepneys, taxis and buses prior to their registration. This is the counterpart of the Private Emission Testing Centers (PETC) that check on private vehicles but are centered primarily on determining their emission levels.   

As some of you may remember, some years back the government conceded that it did not have the resources to put up and maintain emission-testing centers in accordance with the provisions of the Clean Air Act. To abide by the law the government deemed it more practical to allow the private sector to invest on the needed facilities and run it like a business enterprise. However, conducting tests for public utility vehicles remained under government supervision through the MVIS.

At present there are only 5 MVIS facilities operating to check on all the public utility vehicles that operate all throughout the country, 2 of these are in Metro Manila.

According to those currently running the system it would require 20 to 50 million pesos to build just one MVIS facility that has 5 lanes and 200,000 pesos quarterly for maintenance and up keep. These are logistical funding that is not presently in the LTO’s in the budget.

People who are regularly on the road are aware that most of those that visibly do not conform to the mandated level of emission are the public utility vehicles, especially buses and jeepneys. Many just helplessly watch as these vehicles wantonly accelerate with a tail of toxic fumes and dirty exhaust as they try to outrun other drivers to the next loading area to be ahead in picking up passengers, which are of lesser number than the vehicles that transport them. And these vehicles were supposed to have gone through and passed the emission tests by the MVIS before they were cleared for registration. Is the MVIS doing its job or is its limited facilities just not enough to cover the overwhelming number of the country’s PUVs.

Now, that’s just talking about smoke belching PUVs. What about the rolling coffins in their ranks. Most road accidents involving PUVs are blamed by their drivers on equipment failure. Assuming that half of those claims were true, instead of driver failure, which is also a big factor that causes them, it is still very alarming to realize that many PUVs transporting unsuspecting commuters are road hazards in themselves. And the MVIS centers are supposed to be there to prevent vehicles that are not roadworthy or road hazards to be registered and allowed to run the country’s roads.

Be that as it may, it is perhaps a welcome development to try to have these PUVs go through a privatized system of inspection. Where else can we go anyway seeing that the present system doesn’t seem to work and the government does not have the funds to improve it?

It’s true that the Private Emission Testing Centers had their birth pains, which went to as far as having the “non-appearance” certification done by some unscrupulous operators. But it appears that their ranks have already been cleaned and working pretty well. According to newly elected Tanauan, Batangas Mayor Antonio Halili, who heads the biggest group of entrepreneurs that run these PETCs, “Those of them in the business who are there for the long haul have managed to weed out those that are there for the fast buck. A few hundred pesos grease money for a non-appearance certification is miniscule compared to the amount of money they would lose if they close shop for being caught for the malpractice.”    

      Give us a better alternative than going private in the light of the present dire situation. But in the absence of a better alternative, we feel that we should go and privatize the Motor Vehicle Inspection System and get those smoke-belching PUVs out of our roads and junk the rolling coffins. And while we’re at it, we could even probably throw in the weeding out of colorums in the process. That’s killing two vultures with one stone.

Think about it.

Toyota did it again

I remember Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) making a bold forecast in a media conference in 2012 of selling 75,000 units in 2013. Well, by the end of 2013 they did not sell 75,000 vehicles. They missed the target. They sold more. As a matter of fact they established a new sales record since they started operations in the country in 1988. They sold a record-breaking 75,587 units—25,847 passenger cars and 49, 740 commercial vehicles.     

The Vios, worthy of its title of Auto Focus People’s Choice 2013-2014 Automobile of the Year registered a phenomenal 24% growth with a year-to-date (2012-2013) sales of 20,493 units. The Innova is TMP’s 2^nd bestseller with 14,376 units sold and an 8% growth.

These exceptional sales performances have contributed greatly to TMP’s 16% growth and have paved a clear way to its 12^th consecutive “triple crown” in the local auto industry—topping sales in passenger cars, commercial vehicles and overall sales.

Congratulations to Toyota Motor Philippines!

HARI and environmental awareness

A developmental partnership has been recently forged between HARI Foundation, Inc. (HFI), the corporate social responsibility arm of Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. (HARI), exclusive importers and distributors of Hyundai vehicles in the country and HARIBON Foundation, an NGO dedicated to the environment.

The partnership recently launched the HARI Ecovan, a fully customized classroom on wheels. The HARI Ecovan is the country’s first-ever, custom-built, mobile classroom geared towards educating the youth on environmental sustainability. Specially configured by Centro Manufacturing Corporation, this personalized Hyundai H-100 van features a closed compartment that can be opened on the side to reveal a small library, complete with a wide-screen TV, a built-in audio system, several reading materials, and learning toolkits.

This venture is part of the continued effort of HARI to promote environmental awareness and biodiversity among students in the Philippines, says Ms. Fe Agudo, president and coo of HARI during the HARI Ecovan’s turnover ceremony held recently just before Christmas.  

Indeed a laudable CSR project worthy of emulation.

Happy Motoring!!!

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