We’ll tell you a little secret. It’s really not for anything else but to fill up space at a time when there’s just so little news to fill up pages. After all, how many fires can there be during the holidays? Earthquakes? Santas running amuck? Drunk drivers with cars wrapped around lamp posts? Stupid firecracker-mad noisemakers with fingers blown off? Or profound holiday messages from proclaimed leaders of the nation and the world?

So, it’s been a tradition of this column to come up with its own variant of the year-ender. Our way of filling up space during the holidays is to ask the handful of loyal leaders we know to point out pieces we’ve come up with that they think were notable for whatever reason. For kabobohan, for kainis-inisan, for just making them smile at the foibles of a failed and still failing writer.

Here are their picks of the year with their comments in italics:

For those who’ve never had the sad experience of wading through my essays on the virtues of lumbar support for the driver’s seat or the missing virtues in traffic police and their so-called aides, the column attempts to always make the reader smile at the funny side of Pinoy motoring and, hopefully, make driving in the country safer and more enjoyable, if not today, maybe in future.

This column also likes to humor auto companies with reviews of their offerings in the local market from the hackneyed point of view of a backseat driver, minimum wage earner and daily commuter. And again hopefully, after reading the reviews, buyers will have the information they need to know about the best vehicle in the market for their needs and budget, after which they’ll buy what best satisfies their aesthetic needs and their ego.

Willie certainly runs a first class operation which extends to courtesies for the likes of this backseat driver. We were treated to a pack lunch of Rack’s ribs, the best in town for our money, and this part-time commuter even got a free ride to work after. On a vintage Toyota Liteace, no less.

So it was with a bit of trepidation that I took a Honda Jazz up north over the weekend. Thankfully, the test drive unit arrived with a full tank of gas. My pocket cannot fully express its gratitude to auto companies who take pity on poor motoring journalists and top up gas tanks of test units. Not all do.

Does the second-hand import sector generate more taxes for government than the automotive assemblers and distributors? Or do they generate more money for government officials, period, question mark? Will government begin to strictly enforce laws – like the ban on right-hand drive vehicles, automotive safety and emission standards, import taxes – if the automotive industry invests more in politicians than in the economy?

Okay, back to the business of sweet sedans. Sweet sedans can also free us from having to suffer Freon-challenged aircon buses. And there may not be anything sweeter than the Honda Accord. And it’s not just this backseat driver talking. It’s the Coty’s first ever Car of the Year. So it must be really sweet.

But we – this dakilang tsuper and his favorite and only roommate for life – had miles to go to our next must-see Bicol destination: Mayon Volcano. So we bid the staff goodbye with promises to come back with a pickup load of beer for some serious soaking of the serene Lake Buhi environment.

Certainly, Toyota did its best to make the 2006 Vios new and exciting at the launch. Lots of pretty models to welcome jaded motoring journalist. Good food. Diminutive dancers dipped in silver to present next year’s Vios today. A video presentation packed with voiceovers that scoured the Thesaurus for synonyms to the words new, exciting, and dynamic.

But despite the rise in gas prices, most drivers still drive like the days when 300 pesos can fill up a regular 40-liter gas tank with some spillover. We thought motorists — and public utility drivers — will now realize the value of a gentle foot on the gas pedal.

But no! FX shuttle drivers are the worst. With their fuel indicators a whisker off empty, they still rev their engines like crazy, weave in and out of lanes, chase each other to the nearest stoplight, and leave in their wake a lot of thick black smoke, a sure sign of incompletely burned and wasted diesel. They may just as well be burning hundred peso bills the way they waste fuel. Then they complain they aren’t earning enough after paying the boundary.

We know what reader’s are saying: Another column on road safety. Again.

But we certainly won’t tire getting the message of our advocacy across and will always look for the flimsiest of reason to do so. That’s why we’re really thankful to Ford for making road safety the theme of this year’s Ford Day: Another reason and certainly not the flimsiest.