Billboards

The biggest threat to life and limb in the metropolitan area turns out to be: billboards.

When Typhoon Milenyo blew right into the heart of the metropolitan area, trees were uprooted and electric posts bowed to its fury. That normally happens. The posts we eventually straighten up and the lost trees we grieve for.

But last Thursday, major avenues were blocked and casualties were caused by the giant billboards that mushroomed throughout the metropolis the past few years. These billboards had steel frames and concrete bases. The power of the typhoon twisted the frames and took down the ugly edifices with impunity. Vehicles were crushed underneath. Traffic was stopped.

The day after the typhoon struck, the MMDA traffic group was preoccupied with one thing: clearing both Edsa and C-5 of fallen billboards. The task of clearing all the metal wrecks will take several days. The Magallanes interchange was shut down by the collapse of the dozens of giant billboards surrounding that vital passageway. At least one motorist was killed by a large billboard felled by the winds.

In this space, I had railed and ranted against these ugly edifices. To no avail.

These billboards mushroomed uncontrollably, each trying to overpower the next by sheer size, to steal our view of the sky. Some of them were actually larger than the buildings to which they were attached. They impose themselves on motorists and distracted driving. They make the city appear even more crowded than it already is.

About two months ago, without much provocation, one giant billboard collapsed along the busy Edsa thoroughfare, causing a massive traffic jam and disrupting the schedules of thousands of motorists. No one was compensated for the damage done by the collapse of an irresponsible edifice.

And, to date, no regulation has emerged that would put some order into this mad contest for the advertising company that could come up with the largest, most intimidating, most overpowering and most dangerous billboard. I suppose it is the MMDA that ought to exercise regulation over this phenomenon, a by-product of the facility for large printing allowed by modern technology and by halogen lighting systems.

I am sure there is a lot of money at stake here.

Lot owners along the major thoroughfares make money by leasing space for the billboards to be erected. The local government units must be charging for use of public space for these things as well as for the building permits issued as a precondition for building them. The companies that put up these eyesores must have reliable data showing that these visual monstrosities are an economical way of getting the consumer’s attention. The MMDA, I hope, charges for the installation of billboards along train lines and avenues the agency oversees.

But the commercial interest in these monstrosities ought not to outweigh the consideration of public safety – not to mention, proper aesthetics.

From the air, Manila looks like a brightly lighted shantytown. All the massive billboards dwarf the buildings around them. It is a city of improvised structures abusing the public space.

Indeed, this is what the giant billboards are all about. They signify a cultural attitude of disrespect for the commons, for the shared public spaces. They are built on the assumption that no one owns the airspace along the roads and that this free space may be freely used by whoever wants to use it, with little regard for coordination nor proportion.

Advertisers dump their visual trash on the public sphere unbridled, much like establishments along the road dump their actual trash on the commons without consideration for other users of public space.

They also signify a poorly regulated urban setting.

In the National Capital Region, the MMDA has had constant difficulty getting full cooperation from the municipal mayors, who rule like petty kings over their little kingdoms. Each component local government has its own building codes and its own approval process for advertising structures that litter the thoroughfares.

The latest I have heard over radio is that the MMDA will review the policy on billboard size and placements. They should have done that long before the typhoon struck and reduced these disproportionate structures to scrap – not without causing injury and much disturbance to the metropolitan population.

The President has ordered the MMDA to dismantle the large billboards within its jurisdiction. An MMDA spokesman has said the agency is now looking at the violations of existing law that would justify dismantling the giant billboards that survived the storm.

As is usual, we can expect some mayors to resist the MMDA’s implementation of the billboard order. The whole thing could be dragged to court before the city is cleared of these eyesores.

On this case, many would like to see Bayani Fernando do his demolish-now-argue-later act.

There might not be another storm as ruthless as Milenyo anytime soon. But that does not excuse dragging our feet on this matter of oversized billboards. We saw last Thursday how deadly these structures could be and how great an annoyance they could become when they collapse and clog our major thoroughfares.

While they are at it, the people at the MMDA might consider getting into the advertising business themselves. Space is a precious commodity in the city. The MMDA could help finance itself by monopolizing advertising space in the major roads, erecting uniform pedestrian-level advertising facilities that the agency could rent out on a weekly basis.

By doing that, the MMDA will not only take a major step in making our city look orderly and clean. The agency will also open for itself a rich source of revenue it can use to upgrade its public services, relying less on subsidies from the national government.

The private advertising companies have already demonstrated their propensity for irresponsibility in erecting those huge billboards that kill and maim. Instead of allowing them to continue on with their merrily unregulated business, they must be held to account for the death of one and for the great public disturbance the collapsed billboards caused. We should not allow them to pass on, once more, the costs of cleaning up their mess to the public sphere.