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THE
Season of Lent yearly produces heroes among our
penitents.
You
think only those who have their hands literally nailed
to the cross can be considered serious and genuine
penitents during the Holy Week?
That’s
because those who elect to be crucified so that, in the
process, they suffer unbearable physical pain deserve to
be called truly the Children of God during this time
when penance, fasting and suffering are being strictly
observed and practiced by the Roman Catholic Church.
Too
simplistic an analogy, right?
Think
again, fellers.
Many in
our midst this week are as Christian martyrs as those
nailed on crosses in Pampanga and several other parts in
the archipelago.
Just
look around you and you can see the toiling masses doing
their daily grind to survive the hard times.
In
hospitals and care centers are doctors and nurses,
medical interns and medical aides working overtime to
keep our sick and ill under a round-the-clock check.
Our
public utility vehicle drivers, too, are plying their
routes nonstop to service our commuters. Even our
airline pilots need to fly their jumbos and ship
captains sail their boats in the high seas just to
transport folk and people in fulfillment of their sworn
duty to be of service, no matter the time and place and,
yes, season of the year, to the public.
And then
our soldiers and police forces, too, work in shifts to
stand guard against peace saboteurs and destroyers of
civil society.
And how
about our car companies, who contribute their own share
to the valued public by providing free assistance to
motorists going home to their beloved roots to be with
their loved ones once again?
This has
always been the one singular time, not counting All
Saints’ Day, when the country’s major big players in the
automotive business agree on one thing: helping the
public have that smooth, hassle-free ride back to their
families rooted still to the country.
To
Filipinos, the joy of being with relatives, if not
childhood buddies, is also part and parcel of the Holy
Week. This is a revered tradition among us that is as
old as the Bible itself, as perennial as brewed coffee.
So,
Honda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Isuzu, Volvo, Hyundai, Ford,
Toyota, name it and, most likely, it’s there in the
highway trying to assist or help motorists get to their
destinations safe and sound.
The car
giants and bit players alike will jockey for motorists’
attention as the mad dash to the provinces ensue this
week. Same as when the maddening crowd crawl back to
Manila and resume their so-called existence in the asphalt
jungle—or rat race, if you will.
Toyota
will unleash its own version of a motorist-assistance
project (MAP) from March 20 to 23, which includes the
Emergency Road Side. This will include free checkup for
all vehicles regardless of model and make, repairs and
discounts on emergency parts.
Toyota
Roving teams will be patrolling along routes to major
Luzon destinations. On-site teams will be in strategic
Caltex stations in Baguio; Rosario, La Union; Capas,
Tarlac; Calamba, Laguna; Tagaytay; and along the North
and South Luzon Expressways.
Toyota
San Fernando, located on the Olongapo-Gapan Road, will
also offer assistance in their dealership.
Motorist
assistance will be available Maundy Thursday and Black
Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Good Friday and
Easter Sunday from
8 a.m. to 12
noon.
Roadside
services offered will include diagnosis and actual
emergency repairs such as engine overheating,
under-chassis and electrical problems, air-con,
steering, brakes, wheel and exhaust diagnosis. Emergency
parts will also be for sale.
The MAP,
now on its 19th year, is an annual, non-profit,
civic-oriented service activity with the aim of
extending customer service to all motorists during
holidays.
This
public service is carried out by Toyota Motor
Philippines in cooperation with select Toyota
dealerships, Chevron Philippines Inc., Philippine Auto
Components (PAC), Oriental and Motolite Marketing Corp.,
Du Pont Far East Inc., Sikkens and WD40, Emicor Inc.,
Power Check Inc. and selected Caltex stations.
Of
course, as mentioned above,
Toyota’s
rivals also have their own distinct services. But, as
likewise stated above, all this will boil down to
benefiting all motorists bound for the boondocks.
Of
course, it helps that convenience in travel will come
the motorists’ way once they traverse the Slex (the
Skyway will always be the saving grace, anyway, to the
hassles at the still-unfinished Slex) for the southbound
and that superb Nlex for the northbound.
In the
end, the key is to drive safely and the way to achieve
that is to drive defensively—and with a lot of patience
stored in the brain and loads of ice-cold nerves planted
in the heart.
Happy
Easter, fellers! |
