Friday, October 06, 2006
Maxey: An empty threat
By Ram Maxey
Bar None
THE regional office of the Department of Public Works and Highways has announced that it will soon start its own campaign against billboards that are deemed hazardous to the safety of the public.
The announcement is in line with President Arroyo's recent directive to the DPWH to check on all billboards in the country following numerous incidents where such structures collapsed in Metro Manila and other places under the battering of typhoon Milenyo, killing and injuring people and destroying property.
Threatened with demolition by the DPWH are billboards erected within the road right of way of national highways, those that were put up in violation of local ordinances, and those that are structurally unsound, hence pose a potential danger to life and property.
The president's directive should have included one other reason for removing these monstrosities once and for all: They are ugly, period. The bigger, the uglier they are. That's the fault of local governments, which tolerate their erection for the sake of the money their owners pay for the privilege.
But it has been proven that an urban community can exist without these monstrous structures, thereby affording its citizens and visitors the privilege of enjoying the scenery uninterrupted by ugly billboards dotting the skyline. That's Tagaytay City.
As for Arroyo's directive, forget it. There may be implementation here, there, elsewhere perhaps, but by the time she leaves Malacañang in 2010, those billboards will still be there. Most of them anyway. That's the way this country operates. The ningas cogon way.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (October 6, 2006 issue)
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