MANILA, Philippines—Take them down.

This was the order of Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane to outdoor advertisers as he expressed his all-out support for the crackdown on billboards featuring half-naked young men and women displayed on major thoroughfares.

Ebdane has ordered billboard owners to remove the “sexy” ads, saying they distract and slow down motorists, including him.

“They themselves know that some of these billboards are sexually suggestive. They (outdoor advertisers) should voluntarily remove these billboards,” he said.

He claimed that sexy advertisements contribute to the worsening of the traffic situation in Metro Manila, already one of the worst in Asia.

Ebdane noted that these billboards make motorists lose their focus on the road.

DPWH Director for Planning Service Melvin Navarro said that for drivers, a split-second look at the billboards could lead to an accident.