Advertisers take MMDA to task, defend right to represent billboard operators

Companies engaged in the same business can represent the interest of all stakeholders in court.

This was the argument raised by the Outdoor Advertisers Association of the Philippines (OAAP) in response to a petition filed by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) before the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 132.

Earlier, the MMDA questioned whether the OAAP was a party to the case since one of their officials who took the stand admitted in court that the group did not operate a billboard.

According to the MMDA, only companies that were running billboards were qualified to question the government agency’s crackdown on gigantic advertisements displayed on major thoroughfares, including Edsa.

In a 12-page comment filed last week, the OAAP insisted that the civil case it filed against the MMDA and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) was aimed at determining whether the two agencies’ antibillboard campaign was legal.

“Petitioner [OAAP] seeks to declare the memorandum of agreement dated Aug. 31, 2010, and the agreement dated May 19, 2011, between the DPWH and MMDA… void, being an invalid delegation of administrative function and violation of the due process provided in the additional rules and regulation for the demolition of signboards,” the group said.

The OAAP was referring to the 2010 agreement in which the DPWH deputized the MMDA to enforce portions of the National Building Code, specifically those concerning billboards. The second agreement, on the other hand, referred to an MMDA memorandum on the creation of a Metro Manila Billboard Office.

The advertisers’ group questioned the MMDA’s capacity to enact legislation and exercise police powers when these issues had been settled in court.

“Our Supreme Court… has recognized the right of associations to [file a] suit without including its members who are directly affected by the statutes in question,” it added.

The campaign against billboards was launched by the MMDA and DPWH after several of these oversized advertisements fell on several vehicles at the height of typhoons, leaving several people injured, even killing a man and damaging thousands of pesos’ worth of property.