Osmeña orders removal of illegal Billboards

Following the collapse of several billboards due to Typhoon Lando, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña yesterday ordered the Office of the Building Official to remove all the illegal billboards in the city.

“Check which are legal, who are the contractors and tell them to remove all those billboards,” the mayor instructed OBO chief Josefa Ylanan.

Osmeña phoned Ylanan and ordered her to investigate on the matter after reporters asked him on what will the city do with the billboards that have now become hazardous especially during typhoons.

Tropical storm Lando caused damage to several billboards in the city last Monday when it wreaked havoc in Cebu.

Mary Ann Solomon, president of the Outdoor Advertisers Association of the Philippines-Cebu chapter, said that “damages affecting billboard members in the city have been placed at P10-15 million.”

“This constitutes opportunity loss and the loss of income and investment in our group. As of now, what we are doing is damage control. We are doing necessary repairs,” Solomon said.

In a separate interview, Ylanan said that there were at least four billboards in the city that were toppled down when Storm Signal Number 2 was raised over Cebu the other day.

These billboards were located at the Citilink Terminal along N. Bacalso Avenue, near the University of the Philippines along Salinas Drive, along Archbishop Reyes Avenue in barrio Luz and one along Juan Luna Avenue in Mabolo.

Of these, she said that only the one at the Citilink terminal was confirmed as illegal so far. While she refused to reveal the contractor of the billboard, she confirmed that it has no permit from the City Hall because its contractor is not a member of the OAAP.

The billboard in barrio Luz reportedly hurt a certain Marianito Nortisa and his wife Evelyn after it tumbled and fell on the roof of their house. 

Ylanan said OBO will only issue permit to billboards whose contractors are members of the advertisers association and those who follow the standard size for billboards which is 40 feet by 60 feet.

With this, Osmeña ordered the OBO to remove all the illegal billboards and file a case against their contractors.

“Our men are already investigating and finding out who the owners of these billboards are so we can file a case against them and have the illegal billboards removed,” Ylanan said.

Osmeña reiterated that billboards should never be allowed near residential areas and power lines because these could endanger people especially during typhoons. – Wenna A. Berondo and Jasmin R. Uy/MEEV