MMDA questions judge's order stopping billboard demolition

A legal row looms between the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and a Pasay City judge who ordered the MMDA to stop demolishing a billboard in Quezon City. MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said he is considering filing administrative charges against Judge Divinagracia Pelino over the order he branded "patently illegal." "We will exhaust all legal means to ensure that billboards conform to well-accepted standards on size, distance and structural integrity, even as we strive to protect the environment," Tolentino said in a news release. The MMDA questioned Pelino's order to stop the demolition of the billboard, noting Quezon City's building official had ordered that the structure be dismantled. Pelino's Writ of Preliminary Injunction dated January 12, 2012 directed the MMDA to stop dismantling 119 billboard structures owned by an out-door advitising firm. "What was curious however was that while the petition covered only two billboards, the Writ covered 119 billboards," the MMDA said. The Writ stemmed from a Petition for Injunction filed by advertising firm against the MMDA, which had dismantled its billboard at 995 UC Dapitan Hardware/ Lumber, EDSA, Quezon City. MMDA Legal and Legislative Affairs Staff Director Rochelle Ona said the dismantling was done upon the request of the Quezon City government. The MMDA said documents presented in the injunction case showed Quezon City Building Officer Isagani Versoza had issued a Dismantling/ Roll Down Order on August 14, 2011. It said the order was formally indorsed to the MMDA on October 11, 2011. "The billboard... does not have a building permit. This an outright violation of the National Building Code, which requires that all structures, whether these be buildings or outdoor advertising signs, should obtain a building permit. Where the law does not distinguish, we should not distinguish," Ona said. Also, the MMDA noted the petitioner could not even produce its business permits. The MMDA cited Section 301 of the National Building Code where any entity erecting or constructing any building or structure should first obtain a building permit from the Building Official assigned in the place where the building is located. "The National Building Code was enacted to ensure that all structures – whether these be buildings, houses or billboard structures – conform in all respects to the principles of safe construction and are suited to the purpose for which they are designed," said Tolentino. He added the writ of injunction now dispenses with this very important requirement. — LBG, GMA News