A Ban on Racing?

[gearspeed]

Racing ban ready for GMA’s OK

By Ira Panganiban, Correspondent

THE order for the ban on all forms of motorsports in the country had been drafted and is now sitting on President Arroyo’s table ready for her signature, a source close to Energy Secretary Rafael Lotilla revealed to The Manila Times.

The source, asking he not be named, declined to elaborate on the contents of the ban and how thorough the prohibition will be.

On Friday Energy Under-secretary Peter Abaya said the order would just be a revival of the old martial-law edict of former President Ferdinand Marcos prohibiting all forms of races in the country. This covered all racing disciplines.

Ace driver Pocholo Ramirez lamented the impending ban on Saturday, saying this would put a lot of people involved in the motorsports industry out of work.

He said the move would kill the dreams of Filipino youngsters hoping to join and drive in the prestigious Formula One series.

The Department of Energy’s move is part of President Arroyo’s campaign to save on fuel, the cost of which has been steadily rising in the world market.

But racing organizations, in separate statements, said the energy department should do its math and find out if motorsports are really wasting a lot of fuel.

Officials of the Asian Formula 3 series, one of the prominent racing events being held in the country, said one race on their circuit only consumes about 20,000 liters of fuel, equivalent to half a day’s consumption on traffic-jam-ridden EDSA.

The Automobile Association of the Philippines intends to petition the President to rethink the ban or add more regulations to ensure more fuel savings.

Abaya, a motoring enthusiast himself, said on Friday he will try to block the ban, saying this will only result in a worse scenario where illegal races are held and terrible accidents happen.

[kimpOy]

booo...
what they must regulate is the gas guzzling SUV's they have and those govt vehicles that are still use late in the evening (saw one yesterday at PierOne in Ortigas, with engine running endlessly why the driver's inside sleeping i assume with aircon on)

[Bogeyman]

Labo naman nun.

Motorsports serve as showcases of new/experimental automotive technologies, including the use of alternative fuel sources such as ethanol over crude oil. Isa pa, dapat nga magpasalamat pa ang gobyerno, dahil may venue ang mga drivers para mailabas ang pagiging mainit nila sa manibela, imbes na sa kalsada.

[Josh0027]

thats pure BS... who is the one who endorsed this???

[mantoy]

what they must regulate is the gas guzzling SUV's ...

yep. dapat yun ang pansinin. regulate those gas guzzlers.

[zeagle]

Pampapogi decision nanaman ng Malacanang kung matuloy.

[niky]

I said this on my "home board" (fordclubph.com), and I'll paste it here:

Although I do think we need to save on gas, it's also better to encourage legal motorsports to dissuade illegal racing... imagine all those "pro" scooter racers who are going to go back to the streets and who WILL end up in the hospitals again. This is a very bad move. Keep racing legal and crack down more on illegal racing if they want to promote conservation.

[gearspeed]

Pampapogi decision nanaman ng Malacanang kung matuloy.

Para sa akin papansin hindi pampapogi ang malacanang..

[oldblue]

this is bad. balik karera ng kabayo ulit sa pustahan.

[oldblue]

yep. dapat yun ang pansinin. regulate those gas guzzlers.

medyo unconstitutional naman ata yan i-regulate yun gas guzzlers ...

[mantoy]

medyo unconstitutional naman ata yan i-regulate yun gas guzzlers ...

di naman iba-ban eh. regulate lang. i bet those gas-guzzling SUV owners have more than one car. why not encourage them to use their vehicles that consume less gas. kung tayo nagsakripisyo sa odd-even scheme to ease traffic, why not sacrifice on saving gas? but pls don't just focus attention on auto racing.

[flakez]

anong kalokohan nanaman yan!

tama! dapat bawasan ung mga gas guzzlers nila, tapos ung mga convoy bawasan na rin. dapat yan si gma o kaya ung ibang officials na t-tv na gumagamit ng mga gas guzzlers e. dapat pati siya magtipid din para maraming gumaya.

anak ng tupa, ang daming pwede gawin pati kinalilibangan ng marami papakialaman pa nila. dadami nanaman maangas sa kalsada nito pag hating gabi.

tsk tsk

[the_wildthing]

Gobyerno talaga gamot kabayo! Napaka-daming paraan para maka-tipid sa gasolina at kung anu-ano pang energy source...

Tax breaks for < 1.6L cars to make them cheaper. Conversely, > 2.0L cars should be taxed heavier at purchase. (I'm sure many will object, but hey, if you can afford it, you're rich. Plus it's just a suggestion.)

Improve provincial areas so that more people will move back there, and will not need air conditioning daily. I know this because I am from the province.

Improve public transport so that more people are encouraged to take buses/LRT/MRT instead of bringing their cars.

Toll-free lanes for cars with four passengers or more at SLEX and NLEX.

Marami pa ayaw ko na lang mag-isip hehe. Opinion lang po...

[mantoy]

Improve public transport so that more people are encouraged to take buses/LRT/MRT instead of bringing their cars.

this is long overdue. kung gusto talaga ng gobyerno ma-encourage mga tao to stop using their cars is to improve our mass transit system. the MRT in EDSA is pathetic. mas maganda pa yung MRT on aurora blvd going to recto with bigger trains, ticket vending machines, multiple entry/exit points, etc.

[empy]

hehe...what a played out and unoriginal political tactic - kung gustong magpapansin, take the action or position that pisses off the least amount of people, regardless of how effective it is.

all of the suggestions in this thread are better, but this way the admin can say that they did something to conserve gas, but without upsetting the voting masses

[oldblue]

sana magpasok na lang mga manual transmission, puro automatic transmission na lang ata mga bagu cars ngaun

[chain]

I don't get it.. I mean, really, how would banning actually conserve fuel? is this their long-drawn solution to our woes? please...

[GlennSter]

solution ito ng mga mangmang.

[norrissee]

I suddenly feel depressed thinking that our government, after much deliberation on how to save gas for the Philippines, came up with THIS!??! ye gads!

Im sure there are a LOT more gasoline being wasted idling around in traffic than at race events... which is why I opted (almost begged) for a non-regular work schedule hehehe

But I'm sure if this ban goes thru that we will definitely see a rise on the illegal races being held on the streets. And am sure their solution here naman is to put up more police patrols (these vehicles use gas by the way :-P ) unless of course, they opted to use bicycles instead to save gas ;)

[Chip]

stupid move

the problem with gas is not a shortage which can be solved by rationing or banning gas guzzlers. world market forces are driving the price up. kahit anong tipid natin sa gas(as a country and individually) di pa rin bababa yung presyo.

so whoever owns the gas guzzlers will have to save it in his own way or pay up for the gas.

i am however in favor of getting rid of mayor's/senator's and minimizing the presidents convoys