Illegal billboards should be removed

Last year, during the height of typhoon Milenyo, an FX driver was killed and four others injured in Makati when three giant commercial billboards fell in the same city, and in Muntinlupa. It can be recalled that the Outdoor Advertisers Association of the Philippines (OAAP) reported that at least 40 billboards fell during the onslaught of the typhoon last year. Now that it is rainy season once more, and the weather bureau expects more storms to make a landfall these coming days and weeks, we understand Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s recent tirade against those lawmakers sitting on the passage of the bill that seeks to regulate the placement of billboards all over the country.

Billboards are a public nuisance. As defined in the Civil Code, they not only cause obstruction, they are, more often than not, offending to the senses. With the worse accidents that happened last year, we have proven that billboards pose great danger to the health and safety of the people. Yet the billboards remain in the major thoroughfares of the city. We drive past them everyday.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. We know that the DPWH had some billboards removed right after the storm last year, but it did not take long for more billboards to be erected. AO 160 directs Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. to oversee and ensure the immediate dismantling or abating of billboards that: a) poses imminent danger or threat to life, health, safety and property of the public; b) violates applicable laws, rules and regulations; c) constructed within the easements of road right of way; and d) constructed without the necessary permit. Most billboards also do not meet the allowable size of a billboard of 3.6 meters tall and a surface area of not more than 30 square meters. Based on these guidelines, 97% of the billboards in Metro Manila or about 3,000 billboards and signages were found to be illegal. These guidelines are very clear and give sufficient basis for DPWH to do their work. We also noticed that political signages put up before the election have not been removed up to now.

We understand that some senators have introduced amendments to give more teeth to the law. We hope that no more lives will be lost unnecessarily simply because the issue was set aside or not given due attention. We also call on the corporations who put up these ads to initiate the action needed and support the work of public safety enforcers to avoid more accidents and destruction to lives and property. This is corporate social responsibility in action.