DPWH resumes dismantling illegal billboards

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) resumed its campaign against illegal outdoor advertisements by dismantling three billboards along EDSA in Quezon City yesterday.

The three billboards, owned by DDBS Advertising Inc., violated National Building Code rules and guidelines, said district engineer Reynaldo Tagundando.

The DPWH suspended operations a month ago to avoid aggravating traffic during the holidays.

Tagundando said the three billboards — located at the compounds of DPWH, SSS and Landbank near Kamuning — would be completely dismantled by next week.

Meanwhile, DPWH personnel are already inspecting other billboards along major roads.

Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. ordered the dismantling resumed. "We are on the right side of the law. We stand by the belief that what started illegally will always be illegal and we are ready to stand by this conviction, even before the courts. So be it," he said in a statement, anticipating billboard owners to make a legal challenge.

Ebdane said the dismantling stemmed from a favorable Court of Appeals ruling on the DPWH’s case against DDBS Advertising.

The government cracked down on billboards after super typhoon "Milenyo" hit Metro Manila in September and blew down several billboards. One crashed into a van along EDSA, killing its driver, at the height of the typhoon.

As of last December, a total of 13,925 billboards had already been inspected nationwide. Nearly 8,300 were dismantled. About 2,800 unsafe and illegal billboards were torn down in Metro Manila alone.