Firm ordered to stop takeover of ad billboards

MANILA, Philippines – The Makati regional trial court has issued a temporary restraining order preventing the MRT Development Corp. and its associate firm, Media Puzzle, Inc., from conducting advertising activities at the EDSA-bound MRT-(LRT) Line 3.

In the omnibus order issued by Makati RTC branch 138 presiding judge Alberico Umali on Friday, the said court ordered the Department of Transportation and Communications, which operates the MRT-3, to refrain from issuing permits to MRT Devco and MPI.

MRT advertising arm Trackworks filed a petition for the issuance of the TRO after individuals identified with both MRT Devco and Media Puzzle Inc. recently caused the illegal dismantling and theft of advertising materials belonging to Trackworks’ clients. Trackworks has already filed criminal charges against these individuals before the courts of Quezon City and Makati. The physical structures on which advertising materials on the MRT are placed are the private property of Trackworks.

“This TRO is a welcome development, particularly for our partners – the advertisers, the lifeblood of our business” says Bing Kimpo, chief marketing officer of Trackworks. According to Kimpo, advertising clients have been contacting them about strong-arm tactics applied by sales personnel affiliated with Media Puzzle Inc. These clients were being forced to sign new contracts with MPI – if not, have their existing material torn down.

Development rights

Trackworks, is currently seeking arbitration in its contractual dispute with MRT Devco, which in 2000 gave them advertising rights over the MRT-3 until December 2015. Among other issues, Trackworks is claiming the return or credit of some P2 million it overpaid MRT Devco as a concessional fee. It also revealed that it had been served a notice of garnishment by the Pasig RTC sheriff, ordering the company to stop payments to MRT Devco and instead redirect these payments to construction contractor Filipinas Pre-Fab Building Systems, Inc. To date, Trackworks has already coursed some P37 million in payment to FSI, through the sheriff.

The advertising business at the MRT is part of the so-called development rights granted by the government to MRT-3 proponent MRT Corp., as part of their 1998 Build-Lease-Transfer (BLT) agreement. The right to develop commercial establishments on the line’s facilities in EDSA forms part of the rights package, Trackworks said.

This rights package is in itself a brewing storm of controversy after the Construction Industry Arbitration Commission (CIAC) also bid out MRT Devco’s development rights over 11 of the 13 stations of the MRT, as part of the seizure order. FSI itself participated in and won the bid, now raising the question over MRT Devco’s claimed ownership over these rights, it added.

MRT Devco is a consortium led by Robert John Sobrepeña, a businessman affiliated with real estate firm Fil-Estate and the pre-need company College Assurance Plan (CAP).

Media Puzzle Inc. is chaired by Raul Bautista, who is said to have represented foreign outdoor advertising company News Outdoor Southeast Asia in the latter’s attempt to enter the Philippine market during the Philippine International Airport Terminal Corp. (PIATCO) fiasco. Key Australian officials of NOSEA are now reportedly involved with Media Puzzle Inc. and have been named as respondents in the criminal cases filed in connection with the unauthorized dismantling of ad materials at the MRT.