THE Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is set to launch a crackdown on unsafe and illegal billboards in the metropolis.
MMDA acting chairman Thomas M. Orbos said Oplan Baklas Billboard will be reimplemented as soon as the memorandum of agreement between the MMDA and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has been signed.
The DPWH, he said, will deputize the MMDA to remove the unsafe and illegal billboards, because “we don’t have the mandate [to do that].”
“The authority is with the DPWH because of the National Building Code,” Orbos said, adding the DPWH will be the lead agency and that the MMDA will just assist the department.
Orbos noted that besides public safety, the proliferation of billboards and similar structures constitutes visual pollution of the urban landscape.
Once deputized, he said the MMDA will strictly enforce the new guidelines that will regulate billboards and other advertising signs along major thoroughfares in the metropolis.
Earlier, the MMDA was strict in imaplementing the new guideline on locational and structural clearance, and on height and size limitations that nullified all existing billboard-building permits, business permits and clearances and, required all billboard owners to reapply for clearances or permits from their local governments.
Under the new guideline, owners and operators of billboards along major thoroughfares, such as Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, C-5 Road, Roxas Boulevard and Macapagal Avenue, shall obtain a clearance from the MMDA.
Meanwhile, all billboard owners are required to submit their existing permits to the MMDA and their respective local governments for verification and validation.