Mayor Sara thumbs down calls to halt billboard dismantling

Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte is firm on enforcing the Signage Ordinance of Davao City as the local government dismantle all billboards at the approaches of the Governor Generoso Bridge, Bolton Bridge, and Lasang Bridge. 

During the Special Hour of the Mayor over city-owned Davao City Disaster Radio, Mayor Sara said the dismantling has to continue as stopping the operations would ditch the exhaustive work done by the Sangguniang Panlungsod and the City Legal Office (CLO) in making the ordinance.

“Magsige sila’g burning the midnight oil making those documents para sa court cases and then suddenly moingon lang ang mayor nga ‘o sige ayaw na lang’ — that is not the way to go. As mayor, dili dapat gina-balewala ang trabaho sa imong kauban sa gobyerno otherwise, ma low morale na sila sa ilahang trabaho (They had been burning the midnight oil in making those documents for the court cases and then suddenly the mayor would say ‘never mind’ – that is not the way to go. A mayor should not disregard the effort done by colleagues in the government, otherwise, you will lower their morale to work),” she said

The mayor said the owners had their time explaining their side during the almost more than the two-decade period of hearing the petition against the ordinance.

Also, Mayor Sara said that the city has already given enough time for the billboard owners to voluntarily remove their billboards but none complied, prompting the City Engineer’s Office (CEO) to start demolishing the billboards on Thursday.

“We will hold all of their materials until they pay the cost of the demolition,” she said.

Mayor Sara has also instructed the CEO that only the billboard owners and the city government are allowed to perform the demolition and that no other person must be involved.

The City Ordinance No. 092-2000 entitled “An Ordinance Regulating the Construction, Repair, Renovation, Erection, Installation, and Maintenance of Outdoor Advertising Materials and For Related Purposes” was passed in the year 2000 but was only finalized on February 21, 2018, after the Supreme Court First Division issued its decision to uphold the ordinance.

Section 8 of the Ordinances states that bridge approach areas within 200 meters of Generoso Bridge I and II, Bolton Bridge I and II, and Lasang Bridge shall be designated as “regulated areas” in order preserve, among others, the natural view and beauty of the Davao River, Mt. Apo, the Davao City Skyline and the view of Samal Island. CIO