PAMPANGA Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. past president Rene Romero denied allegations of a demolition job against the Private Motor Vehicle Inspection Center (PMVIC), saying he is merely raising issues on the integrity of the testing procedure for the sake of the general motoring public.
The businessman denied any ill motive in questioning the integrity of the QWIK private motor vehicle inspection center in Barangay Sto. Domingo, Angeles City and calling for an investigation on the facility after his BMW sports car failed the road worthiness test last January 11.
"Let's stick to the issue -- the car failed the brake test. The authorized service center inspected the car and confirmed it was in good working condition without doing any repair work. The car later passed the brake test," Romero said.
Last January 11, as part of its new registration process with the Land Transportation Office, the businessman's driver brought the BMW to the center for testing.
Romero claimed his Z4 is casa-maintained and well-preserved after logging some 7,000 kilometers. While mounting a new set of tires, Romero also checked the Z4's under chassis to make sure that it was in good condition.
After paying the P1,800 for the testing fee, his driver was handed Number 85 at the facility around 9 a.m. It took three hours before the technicians started the roadworthiness inspection on the Z4.
"Nagulat na lang ako when my driver called me, telling me that my car failed in the testing procedure," Romero said.
Disappointed, he immediately took his car to the BMW dealership in San Fernando, Pampanga, to check on the brake system. But after a thorough inspection, the BMW mechanics did not find anything wrong.
Meanwhile, QWIK Motor Vehicle Inspection Center manager Jun Hilomen, in an interview with Topbikes, said that Romero is manipulating facts.
"He is clearly manipulating the facts. Very offending 'yan. Dapat lang niyang bawiin ang lahat nang sinabi niya laban sa amin," Topbikes quoted Hilomen.
The Topbikes report said that Hilomen dared Romero to come up with an official receipt to back up his claim that he was made to pay P900 to retest his vehicle on January 15.
Since the opening of the QWIK facility a few months ago, Hilomen said they have never asked retakers to pay the P900 fee for humanitarian consideration since the system is still new to motorists.
Contrary to Romero's story, Hilomen said that he neither drove the businessman's Z4 on the first testing procedure nor for the retesting run. They let the technicians do their jobs.
Figures do not lie, said Hilomen. The LTO inspection report on the Z4's brake force test showed 50 percent at the front and 45 percent in the rear, which fall under the failing mark based on the Land Transportation Office's standards. But when the vehicle was driven back to the facility for the retest, it registered 61 percent and 64 percent, leading to a passing mark.
The big discrepancy in the figures is basis enough for Hilomen to believe that the brake issues were fixed by the mechanics, according to the Topbikes report.
Meanwhile, Romero noted of Hilomen's comment that there is a big discrepancy in the brake test figures.
"He has not explained the Brake Test consisting of -- the test machine, the technical standard for passing or failing, and the operator involvement, the calibration of the test machine, the generation and recording of results. Instead, he concludes that the car was repaired in between tests. He can use his expertise to find out from the authorized service center the extent of inspection done to the car in between tests. Instead, he sadly insists that work was done on the car resulting in the discrepancy in brake test figures," Romero added.