CAMPI: A quiet influence that shaped the auto industry

Car enthusiasts know CAMPI mainly as the force behind the Philippine International Motor Show (PIMS), the biennial automotive spectacle where gleaming new models, concept cars, and future mobility technologies take center stage.

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CAMPI BOOK LAUNCHING — CAMPI Chairman Emeritus Hon. Jose Chaves Alvarez (seated, left), former CAMPI President Vicente Mills Jr. (seated, right), and current CAMPI President Rommel Gutierrez (standing 10th from left) with CAMPI Board of Trustees and members of the executive committee, at the book launching.

For most motorists, however, CAMPI-the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc.-has largely worked behind the scenes, quietly influencing policies that have shaped the country's automotive landscape for three decades.

Some motorists may remember CAMPI's presence led by its president then, Beth Lee, in the mid-2000s, when the Supreme Court upheld the government's ban on imported used vehicles. At the time, mostly right-hand-drive units were flooding the market, undercutting locally manufactured vehicles and brand-new imports. In 2004, used vehicles accounted for a staggering 61 percent of total registrations with the Land Transportation Office. By 2006, when the High Court affirmed Executive Order 156, that tide began to turn-thanks in large part to CAMPI's sustained advocacy against smuggling and unfair competition.

Fewer people realize that CAMPI also helped make brand-new cars more affordable for Filipino buyers. In the early 2000s, automobiles were still treated as luxury goods, taxed heavily based on engine displacement. Bigger engines meant higher taxes, pushing prices beyond the reach of many consumers and stifling industry growth. CAMPI lobbied for a shift to a price-based excise tax system, arguing that rational taxation was key to development. The result was Republic Act 9224, passed in 2003, which lowered vehicle prices and set the industry on a clearer growth path.