WIN-WIN IN MAKATI?
If only money were everything. In the case of the electronic billboard, where a single ad account can mean revenues of as much as P445,000 a month, the company that constructed and maintains it says it has an everybody-wins arrangement with the city government. “It’s an information drive with the city of Makati,” says Dream Advertising managing director Tim Orbos. “We provide the infrastructure, operation, and expenses. We get the right to advertise and in return, we provide free advertisement for them.” That includes having the city’s website address printed underneath the billboard.

Orbos says Makati’s information materials “are still raw,” but that eventually, 30 percent of the billboard’s content will be set aside for the city’s announcements. The rest would be purely commercial. Already, Dream has snagged an exclusive contract with broadcast big boy GMA-7, which is why the electronic billboard has lately been flashing ads for the network’s Koreanovela “Sassy Girl,” along with those for other shows. Orbos also hastens to add that the commercial spots may include “socially relevant messages” from the likes of the United Nations, which will enjoy discounted rates.

The electronic billboard operates from six a.m. to midnight. Its viewing screen measures 11.5 x 7 meters or 866.5 sq. ft, although its total size is about 12.5 x 8.5 meters or 1,143.5 sq. ft. That makes it the largest full-color LED billboard in the Philippines, although there have been bigger traditional billboards. Recently its brightness has been toned down in response to motorists’ complaints. But neither Dream Advertising nor Makati City looks willing to reduce its size or relocate it, as other billboard suppliers are hoping would happen, since its strategic placement, has obscured the billboards behind it. That prime location, however, allow it to be viewed by “4.5 million eyeballs” a day, and that excludes the eyeballs of MRT commuters.

QUESTIONS ABOUT SAFETY
At least no one is hyperventilating yet about it being possibly unsafe, structurally speaking. In pre-tarpaulin days, when billboards were made out of painted galvanized sheets pieced together on wooden and metal frames, people harped about the tendency of such signs to topple over during an earthquake, or for a particularly nasty typhoon to tear the sheets off their frames and have them flying about, ready to scalp some hapless passerby.

The tarpaulin billboard was supposed to be relatively free of similar worries. But then in mid-September, the edge of one such sign, located somewhere between the MRT Cubao and Kamuning stations, ripped and went unfixed by the media supplier Big Board, in violation of building code regulations. Three days after, strong winds tore the tarpaulin completely free from its frame and then carried it far enough to get snagged on the power cable of an oncoming train. As it dragged on the line, it caught fire, disrupting MRT operations for eight hours, or the equivalent of P4 million in lost revenues. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but there were a lot of frayed nerves among MRT officials and commuters alike.

For legislators, structural safety is the most crucial billboard issue. Most billboard legislation is based on the National Building Code, whose guidelines are vague at best. In drafting Bill 1714 or the Billboard Blight Act, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago tried to address this shortcoming as well as the fact that, at present, local governments rely too heavily on the outdoor-advertising industry to self-regulate.

Defensor-Santiago’s bill offers specifications on distance from roadways, intersections, and traffic lights, number of billboards allowed within a given area, and restrictions on size (such as, “No billboard shall exceed 300 square feet in total surface display area”), with the intent of maintaining safety. The bill also seeks to be applied to all streets, not just national roads, meaning it would supersede the authority of both the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and local governments. “What we’re doing here,” says Camille Sevilla, legislative staff officer for Defensor-Santiago, “is giving national standard that will make it mandatory for local public officials to follow. We’re setting standards for safety, structure.”

Media consultant Tronco says some regulations the senator is asking for are “excessive” and “not feasible,” for example, billboard sizes that are too small, which might result more accidents due to motorists’ inability to read the print. The OAAP’s position paper on the bill is somewhat more diplomatic. While it takes issue with Santiago’s characterization of the billboard industry as a “blight,” it agreed with many of the proposal’s criticisms about current billboard legislation, adding that there was much “confusion as to which government agency” implements which laws.

ILLICIT “MAGIC”
Still, even MediaPool’s Callao says that the industry needs to be more rigorous in self-regulation. “Because of high consumerism in the Philippines,” he says, “we (the ad industry) tend to neglect our social responsibilities as long as it will favor ‘my brand’…We have to regulate ourselves, we have to not respond to competition. Some of our members, even if they know it’s illegal, they will still go for it (erecting billboards).”

This is largely why, say other industry insiders who decline to be identified, a common practice nowadays is to post smaller billboards on street lamps and pedestrian overpasses, even though section 2001 of the National Building Code prohibits outdoor advertisement on “street furniture” on any national roads. The insiders add that personnel and officials of national government agencies and local governments often benefit financially from such legal indiscretions, to the tune of several hundred million pesos a year. (One DPWH architect refers to such arrangements as “hocus-pocus.”)

Back at the Makati City Hall, a rummage through billboard records with Almazan, who is responsible for checking billboards for permits and is authorized to demolish those without proper paperwork, yields these statistics: of 149 billboards, 69 have permits, 72 do not, and eight await verification. It’s clear laws are being ignored; since February 2004, Almazan has demolished 59 billboards.

In the meantime, Dream Advertising is dreaming up more electronic billboards for Metro Manila. Orbos says the benefits of having such billboards include “real-time” value, since the displays can easily be altered to accommodate, say, urgent public announcements. He says his company is planning more joint ventures with other local governments. So far, five have shown interest.

Charlene Dy has worked in Hong Kong, New York, Massachusetts, and most recently in Shanghai, where she was a columnist, restaurant critic, and magazine editor.