Press Release

1. PRESS RELEASE
Court Orders MMDA to Leave Billboards Alone
The Makati Regional Trial Court has ordered the Metro Manila Development
Authority (MMDA) to keep away from the outdoor advertising industry, issuing an
injunction preventing the government agency from “universally implementing and
enforcing…issuances regarding billboards by the MMDA and other government
agencies”.
The Order further prevents the MMDA from “confiscating, rolling down and/or
demolishing or otherwise dismantling the billboards of Petitioners and all other
entities similarly engaged in the business of outdoor media advertising on the basis
of non-compliance”.
The injunction was issued on October 25, 2013, in response to a petition by
members of industry associationOutdoor Media Advocacy Group (OMAG),
whotestified thatthe MMDA’s issuances were inconsistent with existing laws that
govern the industry, which are the National Building Code (NBC) and its Amended
Rules and Regulations (ARR).
The group further claimed that the MMDA refused to recognize the existing permits
for their respective billboard sites, and proceeded to dismantle these, causing them
significant business losses.
OMAG Executive Director, Atty. Troy Banez explained that the injunction, though
filed by the OMAG members, also protects all other outdoor media companies from
the MMDA.
“This is an important development not just for OMAG – but for the rest of the
outdoor media industry in the Philippines, whose very existence was being
threatened by the extra-legal issuances and actions of the MMDA,” Banez added.
He reassured though that while the industry can now rest a bit easier following the
issuance of the injunction, OMAG will not veer away from its focus of moving for the
passage of a law that is truly reflective of and responsive to the rightful role that
outdoor media plays in the Philippines.
“Outdoor media has evolved since the NBC was enacted in 1946 and the ARR was
laid down in 2007. What we urgently needis a law on outdoor media that is set in
the context of the here and now, even as it presciently peers into the technological,
economic and environmental landscapes of the future,” Banez concluded.
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