Sports

its Western-made (US) versions in terms of function, performance, and reliability.

Against domestic competitors’ vehicles in the same category, it has a nearly 50-percent lower market cost without compromising its operational capabilities. Supplementing its price-point advantage over competitors is the fact that all aftermarket (replacement) parts are readily available on the global market, which streamlines the process of addressing vehicle repairs, modifications, and upgrades. This makes it a more economically viable option for the AFP to invest in the long-term.

In short, the SVC is in a class of its own.

Of course, behind great innovations are equally great minds that toil relentlessly to bring them to life. UST beams with pride as the alma mater of ARM’s latest addition to the SVC development team; Lester Garcia.

Lester Garcia, a graduate from UST Mechanical Engineering (ME) Batch 2022, was instrumental in strategizing SVC’s location deployment by determining what roles and functions would be best suited to the vehicle for AFP military objectives. Garcia, along with his father, Opet, was invited to be a part of the SVC project. Having owned an owner-type jeep, the elder Garcia, through his connections in their hometown, Malabon, Bulacan, was approached by ARM.

At this point, Garcia was still a 4th-year ME student, totally unaware of the buzzing opportunity of a lifetime that would follow. But, as the powers that be would have it, his knowledge and passion for vehicles would allow him to make tremendous contributions to some major needs of the SVC project; a truly remarkable