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ONE may
agree with the line of thinking of one Philippine
senator regarding the very sensitive issue of Jpepa, the
bilateral agreement between the Philippines and Japan,
which is now being deliberated in the Senate.
The
senator recently asked: “What assurance do we have that
the promised increased productive investments from Japan
will actually come in once Jpepa is ratified, when
Japanese firms like Ajinomoto are already abandoning
their manufacturing plants here even before the onset of
the lower [Philippines] tariff schedule?”
The
senator further asked: “What impact will the Jpepa
actually have, for instance, on our automotive
manufacturing industry, which is dominated by Japanese
firms, and which employs thousands of Filipino workers?
Once the Jpepa is in place, will Toyota Motor
Philippines, Honda Cars Philippines, Mitsubishi Motors
Philippines and Isuzu
Philippines
also start dismantling their manufacturing plants here?
What will stop them from just bringing in at lower cost
those completely built-up Japanese cars from Thailand or
somewhere else?”
These
are questions that Philippine government officials
should be prepared to answer. With the welfare of
thousands of Filipino workers at stake here, shouldn’t
they take time to explain the nitty-gritty of the said
bilateral agreement before it is ratified?
****
LAST
Saturday’s Petron-Car Awards Group Inc. (Cagi) test fest
at the San Lazaro Leisure Park—the official venue of the
event—was very exhilarating given the 15 sports, luxury
and ultraluxury cars in the lineup.
This
writer’s kid, Juan Miguel, who tagged along for the
activity, had a whole-day, whirlwind experience aboard
all those cars. Our colleague Ferman Lao estimated that
the combined values of all the vehicles tested on that
day was close to P40 million.
Yes,
there were three Mercedes-Benzes (a C200 K Avantgarde
that costs P2.98 million, an E280 Elegance Sedan worth
P4.88 million and an S350 LWB Sedan priced at P7.8
million); one Chrysler 300C worth P2.65 million; three
Volvos (the S60 T5, S80 2.5L and C30); one Audi A6 3.2
ESi Multitronic that costs P4.995 million; one
Mitsubishi Eclipse GT; three BMWs (a 1-, 3- and 5
Series; two Toyotas (a Hi-Ace and a Yaris); and one Kia
Carnival 2.9 EX CRDi that costs P1.5 million.
Despite
the hot weather that prevailed all day, everybody had so
much fun and enjoyed the cool aircon inside the cabins
of the cars.
The
weekly test fest will continue tomorrow and every
Saturday thereafter up to October 13. All Cagi members
are invited to join and participate in the test fest.
****
A SOURCE
recently told us about one affluent and influential
family from the South who had employed an arm-and-leg
lock on the bus-transport business in the Visayas and
Mindanao.
Everyday, close to 2,000 buses are fielded by four bus
entities operating under a flagship company run by the
said family in the said regions. The business has become
so lucrative that members of the family (children and
grandchildren included) are being pampered to no end by
two major oil companies, which supply fuel to the bus
companies.
One
time, our source added, the family (20 members included)
was sent on a two-month vacation to Europe where they
stayed in a glamorous hotel and were given the royal
treatment.
****
AFTER
several floods hit Metro Manila in the past several
weeks, potholes are now dotting our roads and highways.
We don’t
know whose responsibility it is to fix them, but whoever
it is should realize that these potholes pose a real
problem to motorists. They cause traffic jams—especially
during rush hours, result in the loss of precious
working hours for commuters and increase car owners’
gasoline expenses.
Potholes
are especially dangerous on the highway at night because
they can cause serious injuries to passengers of
fast-moving vehicles that fail to avoid them.
There
are some city governments that repair the potholes as
soon as they become visible, but there are also many
others that don’t mind them at all. |
