Mayors, AdBoard meet on billboards

MANILA, Philippines - Metro Manila mayors will meet with members of the advertising industry to discuss measures to strengthen billboard regulations and stop the proliferation of sexy advertisements.

“We are set to meet AdBoard (Advertising Board of the Philippines) to discuss this content issue. All mayors agree that the contents should be regulated,” Valenzuela Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian said at the weekly Kapihan sa Diamond Hotel forum.

 AdBoard legal counsel Rejie Jularbal admitted their group cannot regulate the content of all billboard advertisements as some of the billboards’ owners are not members of the Outdoor Advertising of the Philippines (OAAP).

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is set to release a guideline governing the content of billboards installed along the major roads of Metro Manila, particularly EDSA.

MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said the new guideline will be a revised version of a 2004 MMDA regulation that specifically prohibits billboards showing underwear, tobacco and liquor advertisements. Tolentino said the regulation, although still existing, was never implemented by the previous MMDA administrations.