Past MAP president Rico Severino sent a letter to Summit Media Publisher Lisa Gokongwei-Cheng regarding his reaction to the Top Gear article. In his initial letter to Ms. Gokongwei, he stated his intention to withdraw support from the magazine.
I am an avid car and motorcycle enthusiast and have purchased all Top Gear Philippines magazines since your launch in September 2004. Even the discolored issues.
Due to the very bad article written by Jesus Erle Sebastian; “Menaces on Two
Wheels”, I’ve decided not to purchase a single Top Gear Philippines magazine until the writer does a public apology.
This was quickly responded to by Ms Gokongwei, in a letter which was published by Mr. Severino in another forum. Here is the full text of the initial response.
Thanks very much for your email which I have forwarded to Mr. Sarne. Although I am not a biker myself, I understand why you and other readers have been offended. If someone from Green Peace announced that magazine publishers should be shot because of their tree consumption, I too would be angry.
I cannot speak for Mr. Sarne and I do not know what his actions will be after this. I believe though that in the interest of fairness, he will air the opinions of others who have been offended by this column in a future issue. I cannot threaten Mr. Sarne and tell him what to do. Summit has thrived on editorial independence after all. I can only ask Mr. Sarne to give equal space to motorcyclists and bikers. Please do send your opinions directly to Mr. Sarne, if you do not mind.
Thanks for reading Top Gear–until now. We hope we can get you back one to reading us one day.
Best,
Lisa Gokongwei Cheng
After which Mr. Severino sent another email to Ms. Gokongwei but this time cc’d to Motorcycle Philippines, part of which reads.
It is not good for Mr. Sebastian to represent your magazine and make
sweeping generalizations. “All motorists” with no exceptions have
their fair share of scalawags.That’s the reason we form clubs and have groups like Motorcycle Advocates of the Philippines (MAP) to Promote Equality, Educate, Safety and care for the Environment. http://mcpfederation.com/pages/map.php
If you would allow me, I could show you motorcycle vis-a-vis automobile accidents. You’d be surprised at the statistics. Please let me know if you’re are interested.
Think of it; If you possess a valid Philippines drivers license and your vehicle has the proper Land Transportation Office registration, don’t we have equal rights on the road?
The final response was non-commital, but positive nonetheless.
At least we got the attention of the top brass of Summit Media regarding this article written by Mr. Sebastian.
kapag nakita ko yang jess sebastian na yan. ako na mismo sasagasa!
kapag nakita ko yang jess sebastian na yan. ako na mismo sasagasa!
kapag nakita ko yang jess sebastian na yan. ako na mismo sasagasa!
kapag nakita ko yang jess sebastian na yan. ako na mismo sasagasa!
kapag nakita ko yang jess sebastian na yan. ako na mismo sasagasa!
kapag nakita ko yang jess sebastian na yan. ako na mismo sasagasa!
bwahahahahahaha!!!!!
Nice. Were seeing a quick response here. We bikers will not take this sitting down. Only if were on our motorcycles, of course.
Stand your ground when in the right!!!
Fight! Fight! Fight!
Bigots, like Hitler, Sarne and Sebastian are enemies of the free world, no place in a civilization and they should be jailed.
Safe ride.
God Bless.
Finally! Maybe, even a redemption is at hand.
I too am a little alarmed by an article TopGear published. It’s good to hear something positive from the powers that be.
The editor has already promised us an apology which will his entire editor’s message for the July Issue (dapat complimentary =p )
We hope Sebastian will also do the same in his column for that issue.
of course, this is in July, i hope we all monitor this and keep our sentiment/s alive till then.
Kudos to John for emailing the editor and for Rico for going all the way to the top and informing Lisa.
It is true of the statement of Sebastian. there are bikers who are not discpline in the road. I see them bike crazy like they own the road. But it is very wrong to make a general statement to all bikers, I am also a biker but I drive very defensively and careful and never had an accident.
If you blame the bikers biking recklessly, well there are car, jeepney, and bus drivers who even drive as bad as the bikers. I drive to work by car everyday, I encountered many annoying drivers in the road and they do not have any regard to safety and abiding the law. But I do not conclude that not all vehicle owners are bad drivers and there are only a selected few.
I believe that the law must be properly enforce by our local officials and punishment for the violators so that they would think twice before committing a mistake.
mr. sebastian is one good example of how idiot a man could be if he would like to, this write ups of him is one big “idiocrazy”. come on mr. sebastian wake up open your eyes and see for yourself.
idiot!
FYI, Mr. Sebastian has already given his reply to fellow forumer JOHN. You may or may not like it. I foresee the latter.
http://www.motorcyclephilippines.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43948&page=7
txt nyo ako, forward ko home address ni mr.sebastian.
txt nyo ako, forward ko home address ni mr.sebastian. 09217648817
ilagay mo na lang dito, sayang piso eh! hahaha!
Dear Mr. Sebastian,
You say you wrote that article just to stir up the biking community to purge out the undesirables and irresponsible once. What you actually did was to encourage the 4 wheel riding public to hurt bikers. Before you should have written that article you should have thought about it several times if it will do more damage than good. I think your opinion should be kept on your own and not be irresponsible to make such nasty remarks. Im both a bike and car enthusiast, the way i see you are just dying in envy at how a biker would get pass you while youre stuck in traffic. That inspite of the smoke and heat we still manage to be cool. Well I hope you can make a better apology than what you wrote or else the whole biking community which numbers are growing everyday will never forgive you.Who knows that someday you may need a doctor and the only doctors available are bikers.
I definitely agree with you Dr. Ricky Pinpin. Happy Birthday!
pag nakita ko ang mga yan dito sa amin, papasagasa kko ng bull dozer, paki post pics ng mga pls, those criminals must be known by face by the entire motorcycle community
wag na kayo humingi ng apology dyan sa ungas na yan. lalaruin lang tayo nyan. basta boycott na lang natin ang topgear. pati other publications nila
nuon panahon ni erap,nagalit sa bulletin today si erap,ano ginawa nila? ISINARA NILA UNG NEWSPAPER NILA. of course si erap un. e tayo? mga smalltime bikers lang kaya ganyan ang sagot ni lisa. wala nang usapan. BOYCOTTTTT
DR. Ricky Pinpin, masyado yatang mainit ang ulo sa ating mga bikers si Jesus,,,paki-turukan nyo nga ng coolant yong ulo para lumamig….
MR SEBASTIAN (and people like you) beware!!!
from now on magdadala na ko ng pandepensa sa sarili ko. sasadyain mo pala akong aksidentihin e. siguraduhin mong mapapatay mo ko. kasi pag nakabangon ako gagantihan kita.you have been warned.
Mr. Sebastian really did good in stirring up the motorcycling community and “to have gotten their blood pressure going”. He really was so “effective at getting people to think about the craziness on the road and a lot of other things in this country we love to hate, and get them mad enough to do something about it”.
Only thing that bothers me is the way he writes his article. I don’t know the details regarding journalism, but as a common person my common sense also dictates me that his article did not only generalize the biker community but also put their lives in danger by promoting “doing some snaggin himself-wittingly or not”.
Firstly, he should have said some “pasintabi” or say that the article is for “satire purposes” only so as not to give insult to other responsible riders out there.
The above is also true for top gear magazine.
Let’s see where this will lead us and let father time judge this one.
“Nawa’y patnubayan tayo ng MAYKAPAL sa ating paglalakbay”.
Matthew 5:43-44
“You have heard that it was said, `Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. ‘But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,”
Matthew 5:43-44
wag na nating banggitin ang top gear, lalo lang silang sisikat nyan.. basta iboycott na lang naten…
tama si xr200M. boycott.BOYCOTT.
Top gear?! sikat ba yun!? nagtatanong lang po! hehehe!!
I hate to say this to mr. sebastian,but i have to,im a bike fanatic,i love riding my bike w/utmost discipline and respect to other motorist irregardless if it is 2 wheeled or 4 wheeled, hey you mr. sebastian, you are the most stupid motorist i’ve ever known!you dont deserve to drive any kind of vehicle!you are a fool!i hope someday we will cross our path and i’ll show you how pure are the heart’s of all the bike riders!Happy bday doc pinpin!
credit facts…
lots of good info on credit at http://www.credit-facts.org/sitemap.aspx 43…
well, i think nobody is perfect.
[...] Though we wish it doesn’t exist, DISCRIMINATION still happens all around us. Abled people dscriminating against the disabled (or ‘differently-abled’, if you want to be politically correct); car drivers against motorcycle riders and vice versa. Earlier this year, there was even that article entitled “Those Menace on Two Wheels” which appeared in Top Gear Philppines which caused calls to ban the magazine among the local motorcycle community. The publisher responded to the issue and the writer eventually apologized. [...]
[...] Gear Philppines which caused calls to ban the magazine among the local motorcycle community. The publisher responded to the issue and the writer eventually [...]