Ban those highway billboards for good

MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando was proven right once more. Those giant advertising billboards are a menace to life and property. Finally, even Bayani’s boss, our dear ol’ Ate Glue, has seen the light. She has ordered a ban on those billboards. But implementation would prove to be quite another thing. Once we have recovered somewhat from the memory of typhoon Milenyo’s fury, it will be back to business as usual until the next one.

Hopefully, we have learned our lesson. I must confess this is too much to hope for, given past experience. But it was made clear last Thursday that we cannot expect the outdoor advertising industry to be responsible enough to protect the public from their structures. Self regulation has failed.

If the outdoor advertising industry was more responsible, they would have imposed standards for their steel structures that can withstand typhoon force winds even if the current law allows for a lower maximum of 130 km per hour. They also wouldn’t have opposed moves to limit the size and location of their structures to the point of causing real danger to the public, as was proven last week.

And so the inevitable happened. The strong winds came and the billboards came down… on buses, cars, houses and power lines. A person has died when a billboard fell on his vehicle. Scores were injured in other cases of billboards falling on highways. I am sure Chairman Bayani F can only shake his head in frustration. Sabi na nga ba! Ayaw kasing makinig! Bayani wanted to ban those billboards from the highways, for the longest time.

Pustahan, those billboard operators will even try to evade financial liability. They will claim it was an act of God, blaming God pa for their hardheadedness. Maybe we should make the advertisers automatically liable for any damage their billboards cause, not just the outdoor advertising operator. Besides, the big advertisers are also more financially capable than the operators are in the matter of paying for damages.

But those large advertisers should display corporate social responsibility and just refrain from putting up their messages in billboards along highways. Chairman Bayani is right. Those billboards are also traffic hazards. Even those small advertising boards along the MRT can distract motorists enough to cause accidents. And they are also unsightly.

Let us see if Ate Glue can carry out a simple directive like what she announced about the ban on billboards. I am sure Chairman Bayani F will implement the directive with force but will need her total support specially once the politics of it all start to surface.

For now, MMDA, Meralco and the property owners victimized by all those billboards should send both the operators and the advertisers a bill. And sue them too if they try to pass on the blame to the Almighty.

Human trafficking

After a long day of meetings, a British businessman found himself in the hotel bar in one of China’s boom towns. It was one of those places in China where hardly anyone speaks English. Even ordering a gin and tonic at the bar can prove to be quite a challenge. But he got his drink and as he started to relax in his bar stool, a beautiful woman approached him and asked him in impeccable English if he would buy her a drink.

Surprised, the businessman said, of course and proceeded to ask her where she is from… how come she speaks English. Well, she said she is from Manila and as they got to talking, she gave her tale of woe. She was working as a secretary in Manila when she was offered the usual unbelievable job opportunity to work in Hong Kong at a salary multiple of what she was getting at that time.

The recruiter asked her if she has enough money for her plane ticket and to tide her over while she waited for her papers to be processed in Hong Kong. She said she didn’t have the cash but the recruiter volunteered to advance the money provided she signed a contract.

Off she went to Hong Kong but the promised job didn’t materialize. She was running out of money and there was the matter of the contract she signed which obligated her to pay an interest rate in the thousand percent. There was no way she could pay her debt ever. Going back to Manila was not an option.

Her recruiter told her they can get her a job in China, initially as a hostess… and thus started her steady decline into the oldest profession. It is said that those who refused to have sex with clients are beaten up and those who got sick are disposed off in the anonymity of a watery grave.

No wonder, David Arkess, the British businessman who told me this story, sounds like a man with a mission… a mission to stop human trafficking. David is special envoy for the End Human Trafficking Now Campaign headed by First Lady Suzanne Mubarak of Egypt. David is also senior vice president and member of the executive board of Manpower Inc. of the United States.

David has been talking with governments, NGOs and conferences such as the Davos forum on the urgent need to stop human trafficking. Though human trafficking is a serious problem, there are no mechanisms in place to stop it. Only the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration are doing something about it. The Interpol has only two people assigned to fight human trafficking.

On the corporate level, the campaign seeks to sign up 1,000 corporations to the Athens Declaration which calls on signatories to commit to zero tolerance for human trafficking, contribute to prevention of trafficking including awareness-raising campaigns and education, and encourage business partners to apply ethical principles against the practice of human trafficking. There is no doubt that this is modern day slavery, every bit as bad as the medieval version.

The statistics are horrible. About a million men, women and children are trafficked across international borders each year. About 80 percent are women and girls. Up to half are minors. The majority are trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation. Arkess says this human trafficking is the dark side of this phenomenon of migrant labor seeking employment outside their home countries.

In this country, those who eventually fall into this trap are those who go abroad without going through the process provided by law through the POEA. The criminal syndicates help them evade controls set up at our international airports by working with corrupt police, immigration and airport personnel. If only these people realize what happens to these victims, their conscience will not let them sell these victims down for any price in the world.

David’s encounter with that Filipina in a Chinese city is just one of the sad stories out there. Indeed, we should do all we can to deal with human trafficking. Right now, we are one of the hot spots in the world. But it has got to stop for the sake of our women and children.

Competitiveness

A number of reports in recent days about how our country has slipped in world competitiveness rankings have no doubt caused a lot of worries in the private sector. The Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) has in fact, chosen to focus on competitiveness as the focus of this year’s one-day International CEO Conference set for Oct. 11 at the Rizal ballroom of the Makati Shangri-la Hotel.

The Honorable Mahathir Mohamad, former Prime Minister of Malaysia, is the invited keynote speaker. He is just the right man for the job, given his success in catapulting Malaysia into one of the region’s tiger economies during his watch. Those who have seen Malaysia before Mathathir, as I have, can only marvel at what he had accomplished.

Other prominent local business leaders will discuss how their companies have succeeded in the competitive business environment and there are many lessons to be learned. Among the sectors that would be discussed are ICT, education and healthcare.

The good news is that MAP conference officials have opened up the conference for the academic sector, those teaching in business colleges and their students, at a very special cut rate fee. Those interested should get in touch with Arnold Salvador, executive director of the MAP at unit 608, Ayala Tower One, Ayala Triangle, Ayala Ave., 751-1149 to 52 or e-mail at [email protected].

Clean minds

Here’s a thought from Fe dela Cruz.

A woman’s mind is cleaner than a man’s because she changes it more often.

Boo Chanco ‘s e-mail address is [email protected]