Anti smoke-belching initiatives generally deserve our support. Tens of thousands of people die due to air pollution in the Philippines every year; thousands more get sick from it; and the dirty air we breathe is literally making us stupid. Which is why Republic Act No. 8749—better known as the Philippine Clean Air Act—is a great idea in theory. But as so often happens in the Philippines, when it comes to laws, the gap between theory and practice is the size of the Grand Canyon.

Enter the Anti Smoke-Belching Unit of the Makati Pollution Control Office. Tasked with enforcing applicable laws designed to keep us all breathing more freely, officers can often be seen manning a temporary checkpoint near the Buendia Skyway on- and off-ramps. Here, vehicles suspected of being too smoky are being stopped and tested for compliance. So far so good, I hear you say. After all, laws are only good if they are also being enforced, right?

That enforcement, however, has a few people quite concerned. Let’s start with a reader who told us this story about being stopped at exactly that location. If you read it, it sounds like something isn’t quite right there. As always when we investigate these things, we are not saying the enforcers did anything wrong, and we leave readers to draw their own conclusions, but this story wasn’t the only one. No sooner had we posted it than the comments section exploded, and many followers told us about similar incidents they had experienced. It seems a ton of people know about these checkpoints or have been stopped there themselves, and few have good things to say about them.

You may say that’s because they probably drive smoke-belching bangers, and I take your point, but there are other aspects of this story that I find concerning. While observing the checkpoint up close and in person (making use of my two-wheel invisibility cloak once again), I looked through the comments and noticed that a lot of people said the enforcers would be targeting one specific vehicle model because they apparently knew it would fail the test. This vehicle is the Mitsubishi L300, a popular workhorse that is super common on our roads.

First, I thought that surely these stories about specific models being targeted can’t be more than urban legends, but to my surprise, the L300 did indeed seem to feature high on the radar of the enforcers. I saw multiple ones being pulled over, and even observed one being put through the roadside test, failing it, and having its number plates removed rather swiftly afterwards. If you watch the video of the test, you’ll probably think that this action was justified, but again things may not be as straightforward as they first seem.

The tests I observed seemed to involve the driver pressing the accelerator with the car in neutral, and upon the instruction of an enforcer. Some people in the comments pointed out that these tests should be done at precise revolutions per minute to ensure accurate data, but what I observed looked and sounded more like drivers flooring the pedal multiple times until the checkpoint staff told them to stop. Then there is this story that another reader told us a little later, in which it is claimed that enforcers started to unscrew the number plates even before the smoke-belching test took place.

My final observation concerned a number of kids who were hanging out at the checkpoint, and were seemingly on close terms with the officers. I’m again not saying that they did anything wrong, but at one point I thought they were actually helping with the tests or at least doing something that looked like work around the little roadside office that the ASBU had set up. They also helped officers shut the checkpoint down when they were done for the day, and there is of course a risk for children being this close to a major roadway and cars that are emitting huge amounts of smoke. Also, even the slightest suggestion that any equipment may have been mishandled—no matter how unintentional and well-intentioned—would be a major legal concern and put any test results in doubt.

So, as you can see, there’s enough going on here to warrant a closer look and some clarifications, which is why we are personally going to Makati City Hall shortly. First of all, we will ask them a few questions about these anti smoke-belching operations; how they are supposed to be run; and what rights and responsibilities that motorists have when it comes to them. As I said at the beginning, they are a good thing in principle, but the law needs to be applied fairly and consistently—or it’s no good to anyone.

Then, I think we need to ask why these officers are seemingly not wearing body cameras. This should be mandatory to ensure maximum transparency and to eradicate any accusations of wrongdoing. So, watch this space and keep the comments coming.