MMDA to implement new billboard guidelines January

The New Year means new rules for billboard operators, as the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority will implement new guidelines on billboards and outdoor advertising signs along major thoroughfares.

 

MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said the new guidelines will involve mainly the height and size of billboards and outdoor ads.

 

“Effective January 2012, guidelines for billboard operators, and billboard height and size requirements will be enforced,” Tolentino said in an article posted on government-run People's Television Network.

 

The PTV report said that while the guidelines have the support of the Metro Manila Council (MMC) members and the MMDA, following a series of consultative meetings earlier this year, Tolentino said he will meet with members of the Outdoor Advertising Association of the Philippines (OAAP) before enforcing the guidelines.

 

Under the guidelines, the MMDA shall enforce the National Building Code provisions on billboards along major and national thoroughfares falling within its jurisdiction.

 

Effective January 1, 2012, "all existing billboard building permits, business permits and clearances shall be disregarded or canceled, and all billboard sign owners shall be required to apply anew for clearances or permits from their respective local government units."

 

Billboard size

 

Apart from the guideline on structural and locational clearances, Tolentino said the agency will remove all billboards that do not follow the standard size of 60x40 feet and distance of at least 100 meters apart.

 

He added the campaign objective is to institute a standard on billboard similar to those implemented in other countries such as Sao Paulo in Brazil and Honolulu in Hawaii, United States where many areas are billboard-free.

 

Under the new guidelines, Tolentino said owners and operators of billboards along major thoroughfares such as Epifanio delos Santos Ave. (EDSA), C-5, Roxas Blvd. and Macapagal Ave. shall obtain a clearance from the MMDA.

 

All billboard owners are required to submit their existing permits to the MMDA and their respective local government units for verification and validation.

 

424 billboards to be removed

 

The MMDA maintained its earlier decision to remove or dismantle some 424 billboards out of the 2,000 structures along the metropolis’ main thoroughfares for such violations as failure to show building permits, certificate of use, violation of the National Building Code and locational clearance.

 

"These 424 (billboards) can now be dismantled because they (building owners) cannot show the necessary permits from the LGUs," Tolentino said in an earlier report. –CGL/KG, GMA News