Agent_So
September 10th, 2008, 06:22 PM
There has been a lot of speculation about what was going to happen today September 10, 2008. During the last meeting with the LTO last August it was decided that a Technical Working Group shall be convened a month from the said date to discuss the controversial parts of Administrative Order AHS-2008-015.
The meeting started out a bit late at around 8:45AM with the participants being asked to register before being seated in the Bulwagang Romeo Edu in the LTO Main Office in East Avenue, Quezon City. Ms. Daisy Jacobo, Chief of the Traffic Safety Division, LTO started the meeting by introducing Jake Swann of the MRC and MCPF. Jake then turned over the floor to MRO Chair and MAP Interim President Jobert Bolanos for a brief presentation of the community’s stand on the AO.
It was at this point that things began to turn rather odd. At the start of the presentation as Jobert mentioned that workgroups will be formed after the presentation, Ms. Jacobo suddenly interjected and said, rather sternly, that there will be no more workgroups and that we can continue on with the presentation and that we had the whole venue to ourselves till the afternoon, after which she promptly stormed out of the room. Jobert continued his presentation to the confused audience who were all wondering where the representative from the LTO was since this was a presentation that was designed for THEM.
As Jobert tried his best to continue his presentation, at around 9:15 AM, LTO Chief Roberto Suansing made a rather surprising and sudden appearance. I will not speculate as to who dragged him out of his office but it was a good thing because coming into the theater behind him was Ms. Jacobo herself.
After a few introductions, Asec. Suansing gave a short speech mostly about the general nature of the AO and expressed hope that we can resolve the issue by working with them. After that brief statement he turns over the floor to Ms. Jacobo again who introduces Senior Supt. Dennis Siervo, chief of the HPG National Capital Region Office.
Now I welcome the Supt. Siervo’s candor during his time on the rostrum but I honestly believe that he came out too stern and was berating us most of the time regarding how hard it is for them to implement and apprehend lawless elements. And take note, he used the moniker “motorcycle criminals” a bit too often to describe riders. Though a bit on the rough and unpolished side, I understand where Supt. Siervo is coming from. They are just following the letter of the law since they are enforcers. An audience with Supt. Siervo may be needed at a future time to discuss other matters but for today’s agenda he was, as a popular forum lingo goes, Off Topic.
After a 15 minute break Ms. Jacobo hurriedly went inside again and divided the group into 5 subgroups to discuss the Issues, Alternative Solutions and Governing Body. Any discussion about the presentation was shot down altogether saying that if we were going to have the presentation there was not going to be any Workshop. I honestly felt I was back in Grade School as the group of grown men and leaders of the MC community and industry were made to group themselves into 5’s and write on a big sheet of Manila Paper with Pentel Pens. Honestly, it was a bad bad Grade School flashback. It was at this time that I seriously doubted the sincerity of the LTO to produce solutions based on our recommendations.
After being given 25 minutes to formulate recommendations on a complex issue, each group was made to report, in front of the class, i mean group. The recommendations were mostly of the same nature. The most common stand being “Define modifications on a per item basis”. I was impressed with most of the reports given. It was clear that the community was pulling together on this one to really improve the situation for riders of all classes. Safety was the big battle cry from all. The plea was basically made in unison by all. But the plea fell mostly on deaf ears. Ms. Jacobo then collected all the sheets of Manila Paper and said that they will then be forwarded to a Technical Working Group for discussion. And I thought this was the technical working group.
During the Q&A that followed, Mr. Edwin Go of the MDPPA raised a very valid question regarding what will happen now that all the recommendations are being processed by the Technical Working Group. He mentioned that since the AO is under review it cannot possibly be enforced and if it isn’t enforced how will the different agencies be told about it since apprehensions and denials of registrations have been reported due to violations which use the AO as reference. He was me with a rather disappointing answer. Ms. Jacobo said that it is useless to throw accusations if you do not have facts or proof that the law enforcers have actually violated the law. Show us the proof she cries. It’s like answering a question with a question. After a few more questions answered roughly along the same line, Ms. Jacobo called a lunch break and served us lunch then proceeded to close the meeting and left the room as we were eating. Well I guess that ends that.
While the meeting was a good first step towards recognizing MC’s and maybe a small step to the creation of a National Agenda for Motorcycles, I was supremely disappointed at the LTO’s cavalier attitude towards the plight of the ordinary motorcycle rider. There is a total disconnect between what they formulate as law and what happens on the road. There is still some hope tough. The papers have been submitted, recommendations have been made. We have done what we could, legally, and all we can hope for is a fair shake at what is right and what is wrong.
Congratulations to all those who participated and helped, let us not give up hope for we are fighting the good fight.
Materials related to the Workshop will be made available to the public on this site, so watch out for it.
mga sir. pasensya pero tingin ko niloloko na talaga tayo ng LTO.. ayaw nilang makipag tulungan obviously...
this meeting with them i think failed.. biro mo lumabas ang representative ng LTO.. tapus sabi wala ng workshop na mangyayari??
sa bibig na mismo nila lumabas na hindi sila papayag na maturuan sila ng tama, at maiayus ang AO..
i guess, it is time to show force!
nakakapang init ng ulo.
pinapaikot ikot lang tayo ng LTO na yan....
The meeting started out a bit late at around 8:45AM with the participants being asked to register before being seated in the Bulwagang Romeo Edu in the LTO Main Office in East Avenue, Quezon City. Ms. Daisy Jacobo, Chief of the Traffic Safety Division, LTO started the meeting by introducing Jake Swann of the MRC and MCPF. Jake then turned over the floor to MRO Chair and MAP Interim President Jobert Bolanos for a brief presentation of the community’s stand on the AO.
It was at this point that things began to turn rather odd. At the start of the presentation as Jobert mentioned that workgroups will be formed after the presentation, Ms. Jacobo suddenly interjected and said, rather sternly, that there will be no more workgroups and that we can continue on with the presentation and that we had the whole venue to ourselves till the afternoon, after which she promptly stormed out of the room. Jobert continued his presentation to the confused audience who were all wondering where the representative from the LTO was since this was a presentation that was designed for THEM.
As Jobert tried his best to continue his presentation, at around 9:15 AM, LTO Chief Roberto Suansing made a rather surprising and sudden appearance. I will not speculate as to who dragged him out of his office but it was a good thing because coming into the theater behind him was Ms. Jacobo herself.
After a few introductions, Asec. Suansing gave a short speech mostly about the general nature of the AO and expressed hope that we can resolve the issue by working with them. After that brief statement he turns over the floor to Ms. Jacobo again who introduces Senior Supt. Dennis Siervo, chief of the HPG National Capital Region Office.
Now I welcome the Supt. Siervo’s candor during his time on the rostrum but I honestly believe that he came out too stern and was berating us most of the time regarding how hard it is for them to implement and apprehend lawless elements. And take note, he used the moniker “motorcycle criminals” a bit too often to describe riders. Though a bit on the rough and unpolished side, I understand where Supt. Siervo is coming from. They are just following the letter of the law since they are enforcers. An audience with Supt. Siervo may be needed at a future time to discuss other matters but for today’s agenda he was, as a popular forum lingo goes, Off Topic.
After a 15 minute break Ms. Jacobo hurriedly went inside again and divided the group into 5 subgroups to discuss the Issues, Alternative Solutions and Governing Body. Any discussion about the presentation was shot down altogether saying that if we were going to have the presentation there was not going to be any Workshop. I honestly felt I was back in Grade School as the group of grown men and leaders of the MC community and industry were made to group themselves into 5’s and write on a big sheet of Manila Paper with Pentel Pens. Honestly, it was a bad bad Grade School flashback. It was at this time that I seriously doubted the sincerity of the LTO to produce solutions based on our recommendations.
After being given 25 minutes to formulate recommendations on a complex issue, each group was made to report, in front of the class, i mean group. The recommendations were mostly of the same nature. The most common stand being “Define modifications on a per item basis”. I was impressed with most of the reports given. It was clear that the community was pulling together on this one to really improve the situation for riders of all classes. Safety was the big battle cry from all. The plea was basically made in unison by all. But the plea fell mostly on deaf ears. Ms. Jacobo then collected all the sheets of Manila Paper and said that they will then be forwarded to a Technical Working Group for discussion. And I thought this was the technical working group.
During the Q&A that followed, Mr. Edwin Go of the MDPPA raised a very valid question regarding what will happen now that all the recommendations are being processed by the Technical Working Group. He mentioned that since the AO is under review it cannot possibly be enforced and if it isn’t enforced how will the different agencies be told about it since apprehensions and denials of registrations have been reported due to violations which use the AO as reference. He was me with a rather disappointing answer. Ms. Jacobo said that it is useless to throw accusations if you do not have facts or proof that the law enforcers have actually violated the law. Show us the proof she cries. It’s like answering a question with a question. After a few more questions answered roughly along the same line, Ms. Jacobo called a lunch break and served us lunch then proceeded to close the meeting and left the room as we were eating. Well I guess that ends that.
While the meeting was a good first step towards recognizing MC’s and maybe a small step to the creation of a National Agenda for Motorcycles, I was supremely disappointed at the LTO’s cavalier attitude towards the plight of the ordinary motorcycle rider. There is a total disconnect between what they formulate as law and what happens on the road. There is still some hope tough. The papers have been submitted, recommendations have been made. We have done what we could, legally, and all we can hope for is a fair shake at what is right and what is wrong.
Congratulations to all those who participated and helped, let us not give up hope for we are fighting the good fight.
Materials related to the Workshop will be made available to the public on this site, so watch out for it.
mga sir. pasensya pero tingin ko niloloko na talaga tayo ng LTO.. ayaw nilang makipag tulungan obviously...
this meeting with them i think failed.. biro mo lumabas ang representative ng LTO.. tapus sabi wala ng workshop na mangyayari??
sa bibig na mismo nila lumabas na hindi sila papayag na maturuan sila ng tama, at maiayus ang AO..
i guess, it is time to show force!
nakakapang init ng ulo.
pinapaikot ikot lang tayo ng LTO na yan....