MMDA pins billboard drive on understanding judge

If outdoor advertisers had their way, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) would not have a say in the size and design of billboards displayed on thoroughfares in Metro Manila.

MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said in a radio program Sunday that the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued last month by a Makati court not only prevents the agency from taking down any billboard, it also prohibits the MMDA from enforcing—starting next year—regulations covering the size and design of these gigantic advertisements.

“This is what they want to stop apart from our operation against billboards,” he told listeners. “It does not bode well because it seems they don’t want to follow any regulation.”

The MMDA chairman is pinning his hopes on a more favorable outcome when the case filed by a group of outdoor advertisers against the government agency is re-raffled next week.

The TRO dated September 1 was issued by Judge Elpidio Calis of the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 133 based on a petition filed by the Outdoor Advertising Association of the Philippines.

It stopped MMDA and the Department of Public works and Highways from enforcing and implementing MMDA Memorandum Circular No. 10 series of 2011 (“Implementing Guidelines of MMDA Regulation No. 04-004 Series of 2004, the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) Between DPWH and MMDA Concerning Clearances and Permits for Billboards and Advertising Signs”).

It also blocked them from enforcing MMDA Regulation No. 04-004 (“Prescribing Guidelines on the Installation and Display of Billboards… and Providing Penalties for Violation thereof”), as well as the MOA under which the DPWH deputized the MMDA to implement provisions of the National Building Code.

Last week, Calis decided to inhibit himself from the case.

Last Tuesday, at least three billboards fell down in Metro Manila due to strong winds caused by Typhoon “Pedring.”

“I hope the new judge will understand our legal points,” Tolentino said.