Huli ka!

Finger pointing between the MMDA and the DPWH, as well as the Senate and the House of Representatives and the DPWH (again), is now the trend a day after three billboards were downed on EDSA yesterday.

First, while the MMDA has been conducting clearing operations of the fallen billboards, they have limited themselves to those parts which may impede traffic flow. According to this article, Roberto Esquivel, head of the MMDA’s sidewalk clearing operations, has pointed to DPWH as the one who should dismantle the main structure as they are the ones who have jursidiction.

Second, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, principal sponsor of the anti-billboard bill from last year's congress, has blamed the House of Representatives for railroading the passage of said bill last year. According to her, certain legislators worked with the "billboard lobby" to ensure that no action would be taken in the lower House. Considering the amount of noise that she made over this issue before, she's well justified in placing the blame. However, it would be a lot better if she names names.

Lastly, Senator Bong Revilla has joined the fray, pointing to the DPWH as the main culprit. “The inspection and monitoring of billboards should be on a regular basis, not after there is already an accident. This is a clear sample of ningas-kugon,” he said.

Three billboards fell down after strong winds accompanying a sudden downpour swept through EDSA this afternoon. According to this article on Inquirer.net, two of the billboards were illegal, as they did not follow established guidelines for billboard size and placement. At least one of them was 80'x90', way beyond the maximum size of 40'x60' as dictated by the guidelines. Also, the companies that owned the two billboards were considered "fly-by-night" shops and are not members of the Association of Outdoor Advertisers of the Philippines. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt, but property damage may be considerable.

Because of this, the DPWH has announced that it will start dismantling billboards found in violation of various outdoor advertising laws.

Why does something bad have to happen before they do something about it? If they knew that these billboards were illegal, then why haven't they taken the appropriate action? Isn't it obvious that they are way beyond the maximum size? Lampas doble, diba?

Aside from going after the billboard companies, they should also file charges against those who approved the permits and those who are responsible for monitoring compliance, whether they be from the local government or DPWH. These people really need to learn a lesson.

Anyway, we couldn't find any pics of the downed billboards so we're embedding a short news vid from GMANews.TV instead.

Just look at these two billboards on SLEX.
Isn't there an agency that's supposed to oversee the construction of these things? These are pretty dangerous considering the number of typhoons that we get every year.