Drive my beetle

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March L. Fianza

BAGUIO CITY -- It is “beetlemania” just the same, but not the Beatlemania of the late 60s when teenyboppers then idolized George Harrison and the other Beatles. I am talking about none other than the Volkswagen that I drive that my grandkids nicknamed “dune buggy” because I drove it to the beach.

VW Beetle owners and drivers have reasons why they are possessed by their car while I have my own reasons. By the way, many of them owners do not call it “car” because it is a Volkswagen. I call mine Blue-green Montana.

Drivers do fall in love with their VW for good reasons such as affordability and reliability. My blue-green dune buggy is also loved by strangers who take selfie snapshots with her when she is parked at night on Session Road, even when they see me seated inside.  

History has been kind to the Volkswagen Beetle. It is a company from Germany that means “people's car”. It was first built in the 1930s, at the request of Nazi Commander Adolf Hitler, the country's despot leader, for Ferdinand Porsche to design and produce the beetle-shaped car.

Steering the Beetle is quite satisfying as one catches long stares and appreciative smiles from people with ages ranging from four to more than 80 as one drives down the concrete or rugged unpaved road.

As I drive, my mind floats away wishing that the shooting drug war stops because it finally reached its last victim. But no, it is not over since just last Tuesday, a former PDEA agent was shot and killed by unidentified assailants riding on motorcycles.

Apparently, the attack was premeditated. That makes the case complicated because it is not as simple as arresting the killers after finding out who they are. The police have a lot of answers to look for to questions that people want to ask.

Can this recent incident be considered one of the faces of President Duterte’s drug war? It looks as if those previously linked to the anti-drug campaign are eliminating each other for fear that their involvement could be revealed anytime.

Since I bought my blue-green buggy 15 years ago, I liked how it ran so slow. With that, the driver and his passengers do not worry of meeting accidents as long as the Beetle is in good running condition.

Other cars are considered to be slow if they require more than 10 seconds to go from Zero kph to 90kph. It takes a VW Beetle about 20 seconds to do that. It also cannot run more than 150kph, although the VW 1600 has a speedometer that ranges to 180kph.

But do not be discouraged with the slow speed of the VW Beetle because it can give you exactly the necessary momentum for everyday driving around the city and its neighboring towns. It is an everyday use motor vehicle.

The VW Beetle by the way, can carry as many as 71 passengers, including the driver and the front passenger. The 69 others sit at the back; kiss, wrestle and may do odd things as long as they do not disturb the driver.

On a Monday evening before I reach the house to park Blue-green Montana, I see piles of garbage ready to be picked up the next day by the city’s unwashed trucks. This reminds me of the worthy answer of the male candidate in the Mr. and Ms. Baguio Tourism to the question “how can you help lessen garbage in Baguio?”

His answer was to “put a tax on garbage from households that exceed a certain weight agreed upon and approved in a city ordinance.” That way, households will minimize their waste. I totally agree.  

Modern cars today are filled with computers that need electronic mechanics when they bog down while the VW Beetle, mostly built after World War 2, and the 50s until the late 70s, is a very simple transportation buggies.

Since it is considered a classic motor vehicle, the price of the Beetle will not depreciate. In fact its value will even go higher, especially when it is taken cared for. Owners who experienced selling their VW said that what they paid for it was the same price when they sold it.

When it comes to maintaining the VW buggy, it is uncomplicated so that most owners take care of minor mechanical and electrical problems. For more technical issues, a mechanic may be called to do home service.

Then moving down further down the road, I hear Senator Cynthia Villar on the radio saying that consumers can just stop buying galunggong (scad fish) if they find the price in the market too high.

Sen. Villar, chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform said that Filipinos should stop complaining about the skyrocketing price of galunggong because there are other cheaper fishes to choose from.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar meanwhile allowed last week the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to import 45,000 metric tons of fish, including galunggong to lower market prices and make it stable.

As usual and as expected, militant organizations appear on the streets to oppose the importation saying that such move negatively affects small fisher folks. Although, to many, the situation becomes complicated.

Instead of blaming the middle businessmen for the increasing price of fish, the rallyists manipulate the small fishermen to advance their veiled interests. In the end, after the issue has subsided, the status of the farmer does not change for the better.