Moving through generations
People often ask me how I ended-up becoming a motoring columnist. Understandably, it’s hard to make the connection between being a lawyer and writing about cars. But it was another lawyer—my father—who developed my love for cars years ago.
There was no internet yet when I was a kid. I think I was around 7 years old when my father became a car enthusiast and would have car magazines lying around the house. I would browse through the magazines and found myself enjoying the articles about cars. My father was also into hunting as a hobby at that time, so he had a bias for SUVs and large recreation vehicles. I learned at an early age that vehicles are not just meant to take you from point A to point B. They also complement your lifestyle, hobbies, or personalities. Reading and talking about cars became a source of bonding for me and my father.
I eventually developed my own taste for vehicles. I liked SUVs, but not as much as my dad did. I loved sports cars and convertibles, too. Among me and my friends, the late 90s to early 2000s was an era when modifying vehicles became a trend. At some point, it became fashionable to lower cars by changing the mags and wheels (so much so that you would have to drive in an “S” direction to get through a hump) and to have a loud muffler. My mom didn’t like this and would say she could hear my car arriving from miles away. But modifying my car also became a source of bonding for me and my dad. We would read about car accessories, car parts, and then spend some weekends to shop for them.
Growing up as a car enthusiast in the generation of no computers, no smart phones, and no internet, printed materials were our only source of information. As a student back then, it was too expensive for me to constantly buy car magazines. I was thankful that newspapers provided an avenue to nurture my curiosity and love for cars. As early as the 1980s, Philippine Daily Inquirer already had a motoring section and it was my main go-to newspaper; so imagine my excitement when I was asked to write a motoring column for Inquirer decades later when I was already a lawyer.
Times have changed and so does the way we access and consume information. Inquirer has evolved with the times and is now available online along with the traditional hard copy of the newspaper. However, I find it amazing that Inquirer continues to cross generations. I often get messages from my dad’s friends and his classmates from law school to ask me about the cars I write about in my column. I have also been approached by strangers—both young and old, and from various backgrounds—to say that they read my motoring column on Inquirer. Through my motoring column on Inquirer, I’ve developed connections with people of all ages and from different backgrounds. And as when I was young, my father and I continue to bond over newspaper articles about cars but now it also gives him a sense of pride to share the articles I write for Inquirer with his friends.
Writing for Inquirer gave me an opportunity to participate in the same platform that allowed me to grow my passion for cars since I was young. I find joy in seeing Inquirer move through generations and touch lives of people from different walks of life, in the same way it has touched mine.
