Senate, mayors’ council tackle billboard blight

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago said yesterday she would ask President Arroyo to certify as urgent the proposed Anti-Billboard Blight bill, citing the danger this form of advertising poses to life and property.

As this developed, mayors of Metro Manila finally agreed to form a technical working group that will look into issues and concerns on billboards along major thoroughfares like EDSA and determine how they can be regulated.

The Senate hearing on the proposed Anti-Billboard Blight bill pushed through as scheduled yesterday although no Cabinet member showed up during the inquiry.

"Susulat ako kay Pangulong Arroyo at kay Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita. Napakalakas ng aking sentimiento kaya I will take the extraordinary step of requesting Malacañang to certify this bill as an urgent measure," Santiago said.

The senator said she was hoping to sponsor the bill before the plenary by the end of the month.

Absent during the hearing were Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez and Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza.

Ebdane, Fernando and Reyes sent representatives. Joining them were representatives of the city governments of Makati and Quezon City.

Santiago said there was a need to limit the placement of billboards because they obstruct the scenery, block the view of motorists and pose dangers to life and property.

Senator Bong Revilla, chairman of the committee on public works, said the speedy passage of the bill would finally settle the issue of what agency was in charge of overseeing and regulating billboards.

"An anti-billboard bill with a national scope, but locally guided would augur well for the LGUs. We need general guidelines," Revilla said.

During the hearing, Consuelo Sison, of the QC Homeowners Association, objected to the "uglification of the metropolis caused by the proliferation of billboards in Metro Manila."

However, Frank Abueva, of the Outdoor Advertising Association of the Philippines (OAAP), put the blame on the lack of political will to ensure that billboards are regulated.

Abueva urged Santiago to create a technical working group to study the bill.

He pointed out that billboards have helped in increasing local and national revenue because the use of billboards — an alternative to the tri-media advertising — has grown into a multi-million industry.

Last Sept. 23, Santiago reiterated her call to regulate and punish owners and clients of billboard advertising offices after a billboard tarpaulin fell on a the power cable of an MRT-3 train in Cubao, causing an eight-hour disruption of service.

Santiago noted that Metro Manila mayors have enough powers under the Civil Code and the National Building Code to regulate and even ban certain billboards.

The senator chairs a subcommittee on billboards and signages under the public works committee.

"It is time to be tough on dangerous billboards. I will urge the justice secretary to move for the lifting of the preliminary injunction against billboard removal," she said.

End to confusion

Local chief executives who attended a special meeting with MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando yesterday said they believe a study of the dangers and other effects of commercial and advertising materials along major thoroughfares should be conducted.

The Metro Mayors’ Council (MMC) voted to form a body that will look into the problem so they can come up with plans and proposals on how specific concerns can be addressed.

Fernando said advertising companies and their contractors have been taking advantage of the "confusion" and "conflict" between the MMDA and local government units over the rules on putting up billboards.

"If we don’t act on this immediately, our streets will be full of billboards. And we’ve learned that many of these billboards have no permits," Fernando said.

Fernando said the technical working group, composed of representatives from Metro Manila’s cities and municipalities and the MMDA, would be given 45 days to study and assess the problem.

At present, local government units have authority over the issuance of construction permits and actual erection of billboards in public places.

Local officials from respective engineering departments are also the ones tasked to monitor and ensure that safety standards are followed.

Collapsing billboards and torn tarpaulins have become a major MMDA concern after the MRT incident in Cubao.