MMDA envisions billboard-free Roxas, Diosdado Macapagal boulevards

MANILA, Philippines—Billboard-free Roxas and Diosdado Macapagal boulevards.

This is Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s (MMDA) vision in a few years’ time, its Chairman Francis Tolentino said Wednesday.

“Huge billboards are a blight to the environment, adding to visual clutter,” Tolentino said, adding that he was very positive that the vision could be achieved through planning and cooperation with other government agencies.

By removing the obtrusive advertising signs, “we’ll make it all the more appealing to local and foreign tourists,” he said.

He said he wanted to follow the examples of cities in other countries like Honolulu in Hawaii and Athens in Greece where there are no billboards on main roads.