TRAFFIC jams haven’t left Metro Manila despite the rain of criticisms that are continuously hurled almost day and night at Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the agency tasked mainly to ensure the smooth flow of vehicles.
Already several manpower shuffling, in a desperate bid to find the cure for the almost 24/7 road woes that are mostly man-made if I may say so (look at the non-solutions devised day in and out), had been endlessly instituted by MMDA Chairman Francis N. Tolentino—to no avail. One was a retired police general dispatched as a traffic czar in the metropolis. After him, a noted trial lawyer took over. Yet another, a supposed expert in traffic management (was she really a lady?), replaced my compañero. Like the first two traffic masters kuno, the third one, too, failed—likewise miserably. Meanwhile, while they were all bungling their job, Tolentino, a lawyer, has remained calmly perched in his imperfect pedestal. While those that Tolentino had harnessed to untangle the tangled web of vehicle entanglement would trek to the beeline in no time, not the MMDA chief. I’ve never seen a government factotum as untouchable as Tolentino. Has Tolentino employed voodoo-woodoo on President Aquino?
If Tolentino will proceed as planned to run for senator in 2016 under Mr. Aquino’s ticket, God help us.
Mitsubishi’s twin launches
AT last week’s well-attended Mitsubishi launch of its Pajero and ASX, Froi Dytianquin, the soft-spoken Mitsubishi bigwig, was in his element welcoming and entertaining the guests. When the top Mitsubishi brass arrived, Froi, as it was his wont, promptly introduced them one by one to everyone within handshaking distance. But Froi has always been like that: Warm to the max. He is not a known extrovert, only a warm body doing his thing the low-key way. Froi does his job without fanfare as when he tells it straight to the point when called to the introduction of a new Mitsubishi muscle or a babe. I’ve seen him do it here and even abroad, like in Bangkok or Tokyo, as naturally as Jack Nicholson does his role in As Good As It Gets. No frills. Just thrills. The natural, inoffensive way. And how were the new Pajero and ASX introduced to us last week?
Pajero is now “Mobility Without Compromise” while the ASX that I consider a short version of being a mid-sized SUV has the “Exceed Your Expectations” for its mantra. Cool.
Auto Focus voting on
TOMORROW is another red-letter day for Ray Butch “Elvis” Gamboa, the country’s undisputed top gun of motoring TV shows. It will be voting time again for Elvis’s annual Auto Focus Media’s Choice Car Awards and, as tradition dictates, I must be at the Valle Verde CC in Pasig to join my motoring peer to vote for the cars dishing out the best engine performance, and vehicles with the best design, best safety features and best value for money. Since this has been going on for, say, almost 10 years now, you have to give it to Elvis, whose indomitable spirit of uplifting cars of substance has become almost second nature to him. I am proud of Elvis who, I consider, is one of the very few first pundits in journalism who saw the potential of raising and institutionalizing the motoring section in the print and broadcasting professions. By convincing his fellow motoring writers to choose the cars that matter each year, Elvis has driven home his point: With the motoring media itself validating the inherent values and technologically advanced traits of vehicles churned out each year, his advocacy to give the public a fair and honest appraisal of the cars they buy bears a solid backbone to the auto industry. There is but one hitch in this year’s Auto Focus Car Awards set on November 6. It is also on November 6 that the yearly Toyota Classic will be held at the CCP Grand Ballroom. Never mind that I won’t be at Elvis’s bash on November 6 as I am but a speck among the heavyweights gathered for the night, like Toyota Motor Philippines President Michinobu “The Rocker” Sugata and Lexus Manila President Danny “Sir John” Isla and TMP Vice Chairman Alfred Ty.
But I’m sure Elvis, with Jen Bleza by his side, can find a way to avoid the colossal collision of big events on the same night.
PEE STOP. Lexus Manila, says terrific thespian Jay Valencia-Glorioso, is a prime backer together with A-Team and SM Aura of MusicArtes’ grand presentation of La Boheme on October 18 and 19 at SM Aura in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. La Boheme is Giacomo Puccini’s most romantic and famous opera that recently inspired the Broadway musical hit, Rent. Jonathan Velasco will conduct the Manila Symphony Orchestra and among the performers are US-based Filipina soprano Margarita Gomez Giannelli, American tenor Scott Ramsay and Italo-Brazilian baritone Fernando Araujo. Directed by the celebrated Dr. Anton Juan, the opera also features rising soprano Myramae Meneses, Nonon Baang, Greg de Leon, Michael Bulaong and Viva Voce. Call 8958098, 5193603 and 09189085088 for ticket reservations… Dax Avenido will have the new X-Trail test-driven by motoring journalists from Manila to Baguio and back next week in his sustained mission to make a name as a Nissan key cog, away from his old label as a Toyota hotshot not too long ago. All the best, Dax!… Pacquiao is fast becoming PacKiao (do I see Ginia Domingo smiling?), simply because he is coach player of Kia Sorento in the next PBA season firing off on October 19. Good luck, PacKiao!