MMDA to file another motion to roll down giant tarps on Edsa

MANILA, Philippines—The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority will file on Thursday with a Makati court another urgent motion seeking permission to roll down giant tarpaulins and outdoor advertising signs along Edsa and other major thoroughfares in the metropolis.

MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said the move was part of the agency’s preparation for another potential typhoon that may hit the country this week.

“We will file another motion in view of the possible onslaught of the coming typhoon. And we hope this time, the court will act on it for the sake of public safety,” he said.

The MMDA earlier sought the court’s permission to remove tarpaulins along major thoroughfares in the metropolis prior to the onslaught of Typhoon “Pedring” but the court did not issue any order.

A temporary restraining order was earlier issued by Judge Elpidio Calis of the Makati

regional trial court Branch 133, preventing the MMDA and the Department of Public Works and Highways from carrying out its anti-billboard crackdown after the Outdoor Advertising Association of the Philippines sought court intervention.

During the last hearing on the case, the MMDA and the OAAP have agreed to a status quo.

But Tolentino said they will ask permission from the court for the second time because he doesn’t want a repeat of last Tuesday’s incident when howling winds toppled billboard structures—one at E. Rodriguez Avenue in Quezon City and another in Makati City—at the height of “Pedring’s” fury.

Pedring’s fierce winds on Tuesday morning toppled a steel frame that the MMDA referred to as a billboard structure, near the railroad crossing along Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue in Makati City. It fell on three vehicles—a passenger bus, a sedan and an SUV— and injured two persons.

“If only the regulation that billboards should be resistant to winds as strong as 240 kilometers per hour, perhaps such incident would not have happened,” said Tolentino. “The intensity of winds brought by last Tuesday’s typhoon did not even reach that level but it managed to topple down those structures.”

The OAAP, however, clarified on Wednesday that the fallen steel structure in Makati City was not intended for regular billboard advertising.

“It is an arc frame owned and maintained by the Makati local government,” said OAAP president Ed Acosta in a text message sent to reporters.

“The term ‘billboard’ used in news created again a negative impact in the industry,” he lamented, adding that they advised their members and even non-members to roll down billboard tarpaulins prior to the typhoon.

“They complied to show and express our common concern for public safety,” Acosta added.