Motorist assistance / New Day's tenacity

“Where were you when I needed you?” is a question we ask of somebody we expected to be by our side in times of trouble.

It’s a question that cries not for an answer, but that tells someone that the pain would have been a lot less if he or she were around. 

At the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) “Where were you when I needed you?” will, in all likelihood, never be a question to ask of its patrol crews by motorists in distress. “Thank God, you’re already here” will be a more likely compliment.

The NLEX already has its quick reaction system already in place, but NLEX concessionaire Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) felt that there is still room for improvement in responding to emergency situations at the tollway.

We were told MPTC wanted NLEX patrol cars to reach an accident site in a jiffy, meaning not a single moment is wasted in the mobilization process.

Hence, engineers and information technology experts with assistance of a consultant developed an innovative motorist assistance system using a state-of-the-art technology that harnesses both digital communication and the Internet.

MPTC recently unwrapped its Automatic Vehicle Locator System (AVLS) described as a “complete vehicle fleet management solution composed of hardware, software and maps using location-based technology to readily track the patrol vehicles.”

The AVLS is a breakthrough invention that allows the NLEX traffic control room (TRC) to almost automatically identify and dispatch the nearest patrol vehicle to respond to emergency situations anywhere in the 94-kilometer tollway.

“Through AVLS, we are able to further enhance our traffic management efficiency, hasten response to vehicle accidents, and improve motorist assistance,” MPTC president and CEO Ramoncito Fernandez told us.

According to Fernandez, the AVLS technology is worth the time, money, and effort spent in developing it, with the motorists’ safety and welfare in mind. “This is our way of saying that the MPTC is right behind every motorist at the NLEX,” Fernandez stressed.

The new technology represented another notch in the NLEX’s growing list of precedent-setting achievements in domestic tollway operations, making it the first and only expressway in the country to use such innovative technology with real-time locating capability.

The AVLS combined Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) with communication links that enable the TRC to track, locate, and log its fleet of patrol vehicles. The patrol cars are equipped with a GPS gadget that enables the TRC to automatically and accurately pinpoint their location at any given time.

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Tenacity of spirit. There is no better phrase to describe New Day Publishers which incidentally turned 42 years old last Aug. 18. A survivor of typhoon Ondoy which literally wiped out its gains over the years, New Day continues to ride the tide to find its place again in the publishing field, ruled by commercial presses, mostly family-owned corporations.

Established by mainline Protestant churches and educational institutions, New Day (with corporate name Christian Literature Society of the Philippines, Inc.) was conceived mainly to address the publication needs and requirements of her members. But her mission eventually evolved, and soon she was blazing trails and publishing literary pieces and important works in various disciplines penned by known and beginning writers, some of which are now considered Filipiniana classics. Names like William Henry Scott, Edilberto and Edith Tiempo, Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero, Jun Cruz-Reyes, Eric Gamalinda, Roger Bresnahan, Lina Espina-Moore, Linda Ty-Casper, Simeon Dumdum, Fr. Miguel Bernad, Fr. James Reuter are just some of the big names that have graced New Day’s stable of readers.

Through New Day’s pioneering efforts, Filipino scholarship and creativity blossomed, increasing the number of original Filipino works that came into print. Its growth has become synonymous with the popularization of what used to be an unknown category: Filipiniana books. Its success in this area rubbed off on other publishing houses and, soon, other publishers which used to favor only foreign books and text materials followed, creating a conducive publishing climate for Philippine works and authors.

These vibrant publishing efforts were happening at the time when Gloria F. Rodriguez was New Day’s executive director. It is a miracle that after these years New Day, a small, non-profit institution solely depending on its own resources, has managed to survive in a world dominated by publishing giants.

The gargantuan task of holding the fort in difficult and trying times fell on the lap of Bezalie Bautista Uc-Kung, present executive director. “It has been a long journey of faith,” she says. “It helps that I have a dedicated staff and a Board that puts complete confidence in me. When challenges come and we are able to hurdle them, I can’t help but think that perhaps we are truly doing something good and we still have a mission to fulfill.”

Once more, New Day will be showcasing its latest titles at Booths 73-75 at the Manila International Book Fair happening at SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia Sept. 14-18, the biggest annual exhibition of published books in the Philippines. Topping the list are three history books, in collaboration with the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, titled Colonial Accounts, Index Guide for Travelers in the Philippines, and The Philippine Revolution in the Bicol Region (Vol. 2); novels like Color of Sky and Death of the Zen Professor; and biblical materials like Ten Preaching Mistakes and How to Avoid Them, Theology of Christian Churches and Walking with a Troublemaker. Other books of general interest are Life in the Forest (a collection of Ikalahan folk stories), Potluck Favorites (a recipe book), Prokids 2 (a comic book by Alex Young), among others.

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