Toppled structures for billboards damage MRT equipment

MANILA, Philippines – A couple of vehicles sustained damage and some motorists were hurt when haphazard dismantling activities conducted by a crew of workers at the EDSA-bound Metro Rail Transit led to steel structures toppling down on EDSA recently.

The toppling of some steel structures serving as frame for advertising billboards had also caused portions  of the overhead cable system which transports electricity along the rail system to catch fire, leading to damage to MRT equipment.

Bing Kimpo, spokesperson of Trackworks, the outdoor ad firm which the Supreme Court has upheld as the legal and exclusive ad firm for the MRT 3 system, urged the Department of Transportation and Communications, as well as the MRT management headed by retired police general Reynaldo Berroya to put the workers of Media Puzzle, Inc., under probe for the mishap which took place at 11 p.m., Thursday, near the rail line’s Ortigas station.

Kimpo stressed that Trackworks had no hand whatsoever in the accident, saying that the inexperience of the people assigned by Media Puzzle to dismantle the ad structures owned by Trackworks led to the mishap which would have crippled the operations of the MRT were it not for the swift action of DOTC personnel who were at the scene.

Kimpo added that minimal  safety precautions and coordinating measures also led to the damage of motor vehicles which were struck by the downed advertising structures.

Media Puzzle’s president, Raul Bautista, was not available for comment, failing to return calls made on his cellular phone to get Media Puzzle’s comment on the mishap.

The incident caused a monumental traffic jam along EDSA when broken steel pipes that were loaded on the trucks smashed a vehicle  and seriously wounded its passengers who were rushed off to a nearby hospital.

He said that if Trackworks were the entity which conducted the activity, they would have asked for the presence of the MMDA and the DPWH, and made sure that lighted signage would have been in place 500 meters away from the actual sites where activities were being conducted.

Executives of MRT Devco and Media Puzzle are currently facing criminal charges for usurpation of private property on the MRT filed by Trackworks.