MIRIAM: JAIL FOR BILLBOARD OWNERS, USERS

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said that billboard owners and users should be prosecuted and jailed for the physical injuries to five people and property damage caused by illegal billboards that collapsed last Monday along Edsa.

Santiago was principal sponsor of the Anti-Billboard Bill passed by the Senate but ignored by the House of Representatives, reportedly because of the influence of a moneyed billboard lobby.

Under the Rules, since the bill failed to pass the 13th Congress, it must be refiled and pass both chambers all over again in the present 14th Congress.

“This recent man-made calamity could have been avoided if the House had passed my bill. But there was a conspiracy to let it die a natural death,” Santiago said.

Santiago bitterly attacked an alleged billboard lobby for launching a media blitz against her bill, and working with certain representatives so that no action would be taken in the lower House.

“These illegal billboards have killed innocent people over several years. Under the police power of the state, they could even be banned outright. Corporate greed is driving these billboards, because the law is too liberal. Radical problems need radical solutions,” Santiago said.

Santiago said that at first, the billboard groups cooperated with her billboard subcommittee, but when she refused to water-down her original bill, they turned against her.

The senator said that media is afraid to take up the anti-billboard advocacy, because even its own advertisers are using the billboards.

“Advertising is acceptable, provided it takes a form that does not endanger lives and property,” she said.

She said that under existing laws, any person involved in the construction and use of illegal billboards can be sent to jail and ordered to pay damages to the victims who have suffered injuries.

Breaking News

10 October 2006

GMA CERTIFIES URGENT ANTI-BILLBOARD BILL

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has certified as urgent Senate Bill No. 2482, “An Act Regulating the Placement of Billboard Signs” also known as “The Anti-Billboard Blight Act,” filed and sponsored by Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago.

Santiago has already delivered the sponsorship speech for the bill, and has requested majority leader Sen. Francis Pangilinan to give it priority in the floor debates when the Senate resumes session on November 6.
“It was force majeure (an act of God) that toppled all those killer billboards. It was the finger of God pointing at crass materialism. It is time to put a stop to worship of the golden calf of corporate greed, and to return to basic community values,” Santiago said.

The senator praised President Arroyo “for her courageous leadership and responsive sensitivity to public outrage and public demand for safety and aesthetics in our highways.”

The Santiago bill places a strict ban on the following billboards, which are prohibited:

• Those that obstruct or obscure the view of vehicular or pedestrian traffic, in such a manner as to endanger their movement;
  
  
• Those that impair any scenic vista from the highway;
  
  
• Those located in residential zones;
  
  
• Those placed on any public property, telephone or utility poles, or natural features such as trees and rocks;
  
  
• Those erected above the roof of any buildings;
  
  
• Those that obstruct the windows or doorways of adjacent buildings.
  

In addition to the ban on certain billboards, the Santiago bill requires 1,000 feet distance of any billboard from any interchange, right-of-way, street intersection, or any of the following: historical site, school, church, hospital, retirement or nursing home, cemetery, governmental building, public parks, playground, recreation areas, and convention centers.

The Santiago bill limits the size of any billboard to 300 sq. ft., and limits the height to 50 ft., measured from ground level to the highest point of the billboard.

Further, the Santiago bill raises the annual fee for a billboard permit for a new construction to P7,500.

The bill orders the DPWH, in coordination with the MMDA, to use the permit fees to conduct a thorough countrywide inventory of all billboards, including plotting the exact location of each sign, and determining whether or not each sign has a valid permit from the DPWH, MMDA, or any local government agency.

The bill allows the Department of Tourism to construct official business directional signs, but requires DOT to consult with scenic conservation groups, so that the billboards will not have a deleterious impact on the traveling public.

The bill will become effective 15 days after publication.

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Breaking News

8 October 2006

MIRIAM THREATENS JAIL FOR ILLEGAL BILLBOARD ALLIES

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, chair of the Senate subcommittee on billboards, warned policemen and other public officers that under the Penal Code, it is a crime to meddle in the dismantling of illegal billboards or to otherwise protect existing illegal billboards.

Santiago called on PNP Chief Oscar Calderon, MMDA chair Bayani Fernando, and all Metro Manila mayors to warn their subordinates that the Penal Code criminalizes negligence and tolerance in the commission of offenses, such as the erection of billboards constituting public nuisance.

Santiago, a former RTC judge, cited the Penal Code, Article 208, imposing a penalty of imprisonment and suspension “upon any public officers or officer of the law who, in the dereliction of the duties of his office, shall maliciously refrain from instituting prosecution for the punishment of violators of the law, or shall tolerate the commission of offenses.”

Santiago said that the penalty of imprisonment for this crime can be as long as two years and four months; and the penalty of suspension can be as long as six years.

Santiago said she was reacting to news received in her Senate office that DPWH personnel implementing Pres. Arroyo’s recent Administrative Order No. 160 ordering the dismantling or abatement of hazardous billboards, have been reportedly subjected to grave threats by people seeking to protect giant billboards which fell during the recent typhoon.

“I understand that these self-appointed guardians of giant billboards are using the names of Metro Manila mayors, such as Mayor Binay, to claim that the mayor’s office has prohibited the abatement of illegal billboards. I prefer to think that is not true,” Santiago said.

Santiago, a legal luminary, said that any policeman or public officer faces prosecution in the Ombudsman for the crime known as negligence and tolerance, if the offender acts with malicious and deliberate intent to favor the illegal billboard owner and its advertising agency.

“If the policeman or public officer has the duty of prosecuting the billboard offender and instead assists in the maintenance of hazardous billboards, the policeman becomes liable as a principal in the criminal dereliction of duty in the prosecution of offenses. In that case, the public officer is not merely an accessory but a principal,” Santiago said.

Santiago scoffed at arguments of certain advertisers that taking down the giant billboards will deprive some people of income and employment.

“If that is the case, then we should not criminalize theft or robbery, because that also deprives thieves and robbers of employment and income,” she said.

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