Illuminati tricycle selfie
I have finally traced one of the famous “Macho Tricycles” of Talisay City, Cebú Province. The Macho Tricycles are recognized for being bedecked with a multitude of lights, bright paint schemes, and other decorative embellishments that are customized by the tricycle makers of Barangay Tabunok in Talisay City. So at night, these Macho Tricycles illuminate the city streets and can be seen and heard from far distances, as their also have ear-blasting sound systems that make these tricycles into mobile discos.
This “pimping” of tricycles is a recent phenomenon that recalls to decades past when tricycles were just as “bedazzled” like the jeepneys from the 1960s to the 1980s until a late 1980s national TODA (Tricycle Operators and Drivers Association) law forbade PUV (public utility vehicle) tricycles from having and decorations except for the tricycle’s TODA member number, the TODA name, and TODA approved color.
The lapse law enforcement in the provincial cities and the need to express individualism caused many tricycle owners to start decorating their vehicles which started around 2010 in Silay City of the Province of Negros Occidental, and then this trend was picked up around 2014 in Roxas City of the Province of Capiz. And finally the tricycle owners of Talisay picked up on the trend by 2018-2019.
This picture was taken circa 2024
