One year after Manila won a maritime arbitration against Beijing, the effects need reviewing. The UN court had invalidated China’s 9-dash line, and affirmed the Philippines’ right over its exclusive economic zone. It ruled further that China’s island building ruined nature and worsened the dispute, yet do not delineate EEZs.
President Rody Duterte set all those aside. Seeing no way to make China comply, he befriended it for economic loans and investments. He also reduced military exercises with mutual defense ally America, and called off joint naval patrols of the West Philippine Sea.
Chinese tourists to the Philippines did multiply. But the vaunted $29 billion in loans and business have yet to come in. Manila’s grand infrastructure program, “Build, Build, Build,” is awaiting launching with the first Chinese funding. Beijing, however, rushed P370 million in arms and ammunition against Islamist terrorists. The Chinese navy and coast guard let Filipinos venture in the vicinity of but not inside Scarborough Shoal, their traditional fishing ground.
Meantime, China further militarized the disputed sea. On artificial island-fortresses Mischief, Fiery Cross, and Subi Reefs it added missile silos and radars, and expanded airstrips and piers. Surreptitiously in the Philippines’ eastern Benham Rise, China has been scouring the seabed for submarine parking. The Philippines, as ASEAN chairman on this its 50th year, is tasked with initiating a long-awaited Declaration of Conduct in the disputed sea, but has relented to China’s desire for a mere non-binding Framework.
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Up to 90 percent of road crashes are caused by fake vehicle parts. Comparing grim statistics, motoring groups in Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa are pushing for stricter regulation. Advanced countries have highway safety boards that test the durability of cars and parts, and analyze accidents and fatalities. Poor ones like the Philippines depend on luck.
A recent Manila forum pinpointed brake pads and discs among the most counterfeited parts. Also bearings, rubber fittings, axle boots, and suspension components. All are related to safety and motion, and have nothing to do with vehicle appearance, notes Rey Langit of Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas-Metro Manila, one of the forum organizers. Unseen under the chassis, such items seldom pass vehicle owners’ scrutiny. Too often have deaths resulted from brake failure due to leaking fluid and disintegrated parts. Favorites for faking are components of Japanese cars, hot sellers in developing countries.
Spurious auto parts are not treated as seriously as fake medicines, but the threat to life and limbs can be as serious. Counterfeiters pay no taxes and so cheat the government, says Arnel Doria, president of the Safety Riders Association of the Philippines. They also erode sales and profits of foreign and local manufacturers, laments the Koyo brand owner JTEKT Corp.
In most cases the vehicle owner is unaware he is being sold a fake substandard part. His vehicle warranty having expired, he goes not to the authorized dealer-maintenance but the neighborhood “talyer.” There the mechanic likely doesn’t know any better too about genuine and fake parts. Sometimes the owner knowingly buys fakes, thinking he just got a good bargain. He only realizes otherwise when he gets into a major crash.
To avoid fakes, experts advise motorists to research, and patronize only reputable shops. And at the point of buying, they should look for the PS (Philippine Standard) and ICC (Import Commodity Clearance) marks.
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