Controversial billboard gets MMDA’s attention

MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said Sunday that motel operator Victoria Court failed to get clearance from the agency to post a billboard in Pasay City as prescribed in the MMDA’s Memorandum Circular No. 13. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Metropolitan Manila Development Agency (MMDA) will check if other billboards or outdoor advertisements posted by a motel operator have been approved by the agency.

In a radio interview Sunday, MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said that motel operator Victoria Court failed to get clearance from the agency to post a billboard in Pasay City as prescribed in the MMDA’s Memorandum Circular No. 13.

The billboard Tolentino was referring to is part of the motel chain’s series of “Where next?” ads. It shows a photo of two couples inside a cinema with the message: “After a movie, where next?”

The ad became controversial after Fr. Tony Navarette of the San Juan Nepomuceno de Malibay parish in Pasay City said in a radio interview that it “[invites] people to commit something bad or immoral.”

He then urged the MMDA and the Pasay government to take the billboard down. In response, the motel operator said in its Twitter account that the billboards were “subject to the viewer’s interpretation.”

The ad was removed on Feb. 1 and replaced by another one for an upcoming concert. The motel operator, however, has other “Where next” ads displayed in other areas.

This is not the first time that the MMDA has been asked to take action against billboards deemed to be morally offensive. In 2011, it took down ads showing members of the Philippine rugby team in their underwear following a complaint from Mandaluyong Mayor Benhur Abalos.