7 presidential bets vow to regulate giant billboards

At least seven of nine presidential candidates earned kudos from environmental groups Saturday for their stand to regulate giant billboards. EcoWaste Coalition and Greenpeace said the huge billboards pose risks involving visual pollution and public safety. “If one of the seven candidates wins in May, we hope that he or she will finally put a break to the explosion of billboards that impairs and ruins the view, distracts drivers, consumes loads of PVC and electricity, and causes physical harm when billboards are knocked down by the forces of nature or give way due to structural flaws," said Sonia Mendoza of the Mother Earth Foundation and EcoWaste Coalition, in an entry on EcoWaste's blog Saturday. The seven were Councilor JC de los Reyes (Ang Kapatiran), Sen. Richard Gordon (Bagumbayan), evangelist Eduardo "Eddie" Villanueva (Bangon Pilipinas), Sen. Benigno Simeon Aquino III (Liberal Party), Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. (Nacionalista Party), Sen. Maria Ana Consuelo Madrigal, and environmentalist Nicanor Perlas. Former President Joseph Estrada and administration standard bearer Gilberto Teodoro Jr. did not respond to the EcoWaste-Greenpeace survey. EcoWaste and Greenpeace had earlier conducted the 2010 Green Electoral Initiative (GEI), a pre-election survey to determine the position of presidential candidates on key environmental issues facing the nation. "Oversized billboards gained notoriety in September 2006 when typhoon 'Milenyo' toppled dozens of billboards in Metro Manila, killing one driver when one giant billboard fell and smashed his van and prompting Sens. Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Bong Revilla to co-sponsor Senate Bill 2482 or the Anti-Billboard Blight Act to regulate the placement of billboard signs," EcoWaste noted. It added billboards recently grabbed headlines when the Commission on Elections ordered non-compliant candidates, including some presidential and senatorial aspirants, to dismantle their oversized campaign billboards installed in major thoroughfares. The seven presidential bets drew attention to the need to protect the natural environment from being spoiled by out-of-size, out-of-place billboards, which can also cause accidents and threaten public safety. Some of the bets’ responses include the following:

• Gordon: “Cleaning up our cities requires the management of our public spaces. Buildings and scaffolds may be owned privately, but unsightly billboards impact upon the public space by imposing a view on others."
• Madrigal: “We need to reclaim public space."
• Aquino: “They’re not only eyesores, but also a distraction to drivers, making them a road safety hazard."
• Villar: “We must determine what is permissible considering the hazards which these billboards may cause to our motorists and pedestrians."

Most candidates saw the need to impose regulations and standards with respect to the size, location and engineering requirements of billboards “that would not require the cutting down of trees and/or compromise natural scenic views that detach citizens from environmental appreciation and care" as Villanueva pointed out. De los Reyes cited AKP’s political platform #37, which forbids the setting up of billboards or similar media in public places with pictures of the public official responsible for the project or for any other purpose. EcoWaste Coalition and Greenpeace added that policy makers also need to look at the environmental impact of billboards that are notorious for their massive consumption of PVC plastic as well as electricity.—JV, GMANews.TV