MMDA intensifies campaign against giant billboards

In its campaign against giant advertisements posing threats to motorists and commuters, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said it intends to remove more illegally-constructed billboards on major roads. In a news release posted on the agency's website, MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said they have intensified the agency's "Operation Roll Down, Baby," noting that the rainy season has started. "We will inspect all billboards along EDSA and other major thoroughfares so we could identify and remove those that are in great risk of collapsing in times of bad weather," Francisco said. The campaign began when about 46 billboard advertisements along EDSA were already rolled down by MMDA personnel from May 4 to 6 for violating the National Building Code. Several billboards were oversized, such as the 500-square meter advertisement of a telecommunications company fronting the MMDA office at the corner of EDSA and Orense Street in Makati City. Billboard operators who have violations may voluntary roll down their advertisements within 24 hours, otherwise the MMDA would do the roll-down, according to Tolentino. So far, only six billboards were voluntarily removed by their owners, the MMDA noted. The operators who have not complied with the MMDA's order have been issued with notices of violation and were given 15 days to do the necessary corrective measures. If they fail to do so, the entire steel structural frames will then be dismantled by the MMDA. Through a memorandum of agreement signed on November 2010, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) transferred the billboard monitoring to MMDA. The agency thus has the authority to implement the National Building Code provisions concerning outdoor advertisement within Metro Manila. "We are not against billboards. We only want the billboards to conform with safety standards and the law," Tolentino clarified. - VVP, GMA News