We’re going to make electric vehicles in the Philippines.

You know Bongbong. The guy never announces anything small. Regional automotive manufacturing hub. Tourism powerhouse. Rockets from Cagayan.

Then: e-trikes. e-jeeps.

Bongbong!

What happened? One day we’re going to space. Now we’re dropping off somebody at Pureza?

Very modest. Why stop there? Cars. We’re going to make cars.

BYD has been doing this for years. Very impressive. But now the Philippines is here. Bad news.

“Build Your Dreams.” Build your brakes first! Bongbong has been doing the dreams part since 2022.

Elon Musk sees the trike: “What is this?” Trouble, Elon. That’s what it is.

Tesla used to be the future. Not anymore. The future is Caloocan. By 2030, the EU will be driving cars made by MD Juan. The Pope arrives by e-jeep. BYD starts importing from us. We’ll give Elon Musk a dealership in Tarlac.

Bongbong says we’ll be less dependent on imported petrol. Excellent. Instead of worrying about gasoline, we can worry about brownouts.

That’s the tiny problem with electric vehicles. They want electricity. Very demanding cars.

And the Visayas grid was under red alert just yesterday. We’re announcing an electric future while some of the country are told to please go easy on the aircon.

Build enough charging stations first, genius. Actually, build the electricity first. Do we have enough damn power for this electric future we keep announcing?

We support Filipino-made EVs completely. Every unit should come with a complimentary generator in the trunk. Build them. Please. By all means.

One day we’ll ride the Bongbong dream; nobody has ever seen EVs this Filipino.

You pop open the hood.

Made in China. Made in China. Made in China. Everybody claps because the seat covers are from Bulacan.

Marcos wants us to stop depending on imports. So, naturally, we begin by importing the stuff we need to stop importing.

China figured this out a long time ago. China can sell EVs cheap because China already built the country that can build the cars: batteries, parts, factories, ports, engineers, suppliers.

Imagine being the Filipino manufacturer. You spend billions to build the factory, hire people, make the Filipino EV, then a cheaper Chinese EV rolls off the boat and parks beside yours.

Hello.

Very encouraging. And who buys the Filipino car if it costs more? Patriotism? People have tuition to pay. Nobody is paying an extra P500K because they want to make Bongbong’s speech come true.

MD Juan already made e-trikes in 2013. Filipinos didn’t buy it. So they stopped. Thirteen years later, the answer is: Do it again. Bigger.

Because if not enough people buy the Filipino EV, you can’t make enough of them to bring the price down. If the price doesn’t come down, not enough people will buy them.

Beautiful little circle. Very easy. Just solve that.

But that’s today’s problem. We’re discussing tomorrow. Tomorrow is fantastic. The car is electric. The road is flooded. Touch the wrong switch and the driver becomes electric too.

God willing, in Bongbong’s tomorrow, there will be no floods; God willing, we’ll be on Mars.

The Philippines is permanently 10 years away from becoming amazing. Ten years away for approximately 30 years. But what an amazing country it will be. Can’t wait to visit.

Today’s Philippines can take its time. Bongbong has already unveiled the next dream.