Presidents car shine during Pnoy visit in Subic

Presidents car shine during Pnoy visit in Subic

Written by Anthony Bayarong 

Two weeks into his office, President Benigno Aquino 3rd has used the official car assigned to the leader of the country only three times.
The driver of the President’s car, Gerry Gezzingan, on Friday said that President Aquino used the official vehicle during his June 30 inauguration and his visits to Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City and here in Subic.
Gezzingan added that he likes driving the car because it gives a smooth ride and houses sophisticated gadgets inside.

He said that when he started the vehicle’s engine for the first time, he felt amazement but the engine warning light blinked, which usually means something must be checked underneath the hood.
“Dinala pa naming sa casa para ipa-check [We had it checked by mechanics],” Gezzingan added.
The President was in Subic to inaugurate the Philippine National Police (PNP) Values and Leadership School together with Director General Jesus Verzosa of the (PNP) and Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo.
Aquino was the guest speaker at the event.
People at Subic took the opportunity to be photographed with the No. 1 car.
One of them said that during the Arroyo administration, nobody could get near the President’s car for security reasons.
But that has changed with Mr. Aquino and a few people who attended his inauguration took pictures of the car.
Gezzingan said that he allows people to take photos of the president’s car.
“Ok lang po, sige lang, atin po yan [That’s okay. The car is ours],” he would tell people requesting a photo shoot with the vehicle.
The car is a bullet-proof version of the Mercedes Benz S600 W221.
The S600 is the flagship model equipped with an engine that has 12 cylinders and two turbochargers that give it a power of at least 600 horsepower.
The typical passenger car has 100 to 200 horsepower, with higher models having 300 horsepower upward.
The heads of state of Germany, Greece and Indonesia, among others, also use versions of the Mercedes Benz W221 as their official cars.
This article was also published in The Manila Times and Sunstar Pampanga.