by the Tsikot PhUV Group

Adopting an advocacy is obviously not a spontaneous decision one makes while stuck in traffic. Rather it comes more as a gradual revelation that builds up until you have hallelujah rapture and you just know. And then you build up your passion for it. In this case, IT is building a Philippine Utility Vehicle or a PhUV.

But more than just a PhUV, it is the dream of producing and offering it to less affluent local folks at a price point and structure where it becomes affordable to them. Enabling mobility, if you will.

The trick, of course, is transforming the dream into reality. And therein lie the travails and burden of advocating the PhUV. For the local automotive history is replete with footnotes of stalled programs, discontinued models, and debilitating politics, not to mention poor designs and poorer production standards.

Yet for all the regression and false starts, the dream is ensconced in harsh reality for more than a hundred companies and the source of livelihood for more 50,000 workers – jobs that are now in jeopardy with the faltering industry.

And like so many times before, a PhUV program is being revived to help improve the situation. This time around, it is the industry association of MVPMAP that has taken the lead. MVPMAP thus played the pioneer by launching their prototype this Independence Day. And like most proverbial pioneers, they ended up with a lot of arrows in the form of brickbats, insults, and bashing at their back. It is not relevant whether these are justified (for the record, the constructive criticisms are). But MVPMAP has to be given credit, for unlike most Filipinos who are content to indulge in endless debate; they actually went ahead and build a prototype, and perhaps arguably, momentum for the rest to ride on.

As an on-line community revolving around cars, Tsikot.com (Tsikot) was and is a natural forum for the inevitable discussions sparked by the MVPMAP PhUV launch. We are witness to both praises and criticisms, even to pure bashing. We have also heard the naysayers who say the country is not capable of sustaining an indigenous automobile industry. Actually more than we care to hear. And we do not disagree.

On the other hand, everyone needs to realize developing one takes time. So when do we start? If not now, when? After all, the industry can be a generator of the market itself, since it requires several ancillary fields to supply its production line. Why not deconstruct the manufacturing process, spread infra costs to lower entry barriers, and enable SMEs to fully participate in the supply value chain? If we do this, the trickle-down effect can be accelerated, effectively widening the target market base. We just have to think outside-the-box. We just have to think why not?

Of course, it is much, much easier said than done. But it is not impossible. We have a lot of Filipinos who are of world-caliber in pertinent fields and through Tsikot and other means, have expressed their willingness to help. And they have been contributing ideas, suggestions, and designs. The Internet allows them to help from afar. After all, the web is truly an enabling technology that levels the playing field in so many industries.

So it is not surprising a lot of Tsikot members (both based locally and overseas) have been participating in the technical (and related) discussions in the Tsikot Auto Design and Research forum. And the discussions have impressed a lot of industry insiders that they now eagerly await the production of the Tsikot PhUV. With God’s help and the power of the Internet, we are hoping we will be able to deliver and not disappoint. Suffice to say, the resultant PhUV will essentially be a child of the Internet as it is a child of Tsikot.

Tsikot, in turn, is also a child of that Internet. Its essence is what you, the members, have made it to be. Its value is measured not by the number of forum posts, page views and clicks but by what becomes of “eyeballs” and outreach programs – the friendships and events cultivated by a common love of cars.

And it has, indeed, blossomed into an on-line community that transcends its digital roots through real-life gatherings and events. Whether we like it or not, Tsikot is slowly making its presence felt by the outside world so much that we have been quoted in the papers, we have been asked to participate in trade events, and we have been invited to give our feedback to the MVPMAP PhUV project.

And even as we nudge ourselves into purpose, we have been constantly exploring ways to define and redefine Tsikot’s essence – an advocacy to embrace, a vision to promote, a mission to fulfill. And for all the efforts to reach out for an answer, serendipitously, we found it within Tsikot with “the motley group that decided to produce its own version of the PhUV.”

What would be more appropriate than embracing a dream borne within Tsikot’s domain, a dream shared by the industry around which Tsikot revolves, by members whose on-line collaboration is made possible and then nurtured by Tsikot, and whose objective is to design and build a PhUV that is as much user-generated from digital input as Tsikot itself?

But more than a dream, it is also an actual effort to help revive a dying industry, an attempt to save the lives of 50,000 or so Filipinos, to provide enabling mobility to the masses, and of course, to build and develop the PhUV. It is an advocacy tailor-made for Tsikot and which Tsikot would now like to embrace in full.

For sure, the objectives are long-term. Quixotic, some might even say. And obviously there is no guarantee we will ever achieve them. But if we don’t take the first step, we will never know. For now, it is enough that we know it is worth a try. But we also know it won’t be easy. Where we want to go, there are simply too many places without roads yet. We have to build them ourselves. For sure, it will be no limo ride.

And in the same way the MVPMAP PhUV project pushed our motley group to build our own, if we fall short of our goals, whatever progress that we, the members of Tsikot will make, be it a few steps or a thousand miles worth of road, will become the foundation for succeeding groups to build on. Hopefully, one day, a group, be it us or not, will finally achieve the long-term goals. Then, it will be the success of everyone involved. And that is what advocacy is all about.

So we invite you to hop on and buckle up. It will be rough ride, for sure. But whatever happens, we are sure the journey itself will be the reward.