The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading House Bill No. 7174 or the proposed Bawal Billboard Tuwing Bagyo Act which prohibits the active use and display of commercial billboards during typhoons.
This developed as CIBAC Reps. Eddie Villanueva and Domingo Rivera lauded the bill’s passage. The measure got 205 affirmative votes, zero negative votes and four abstentions.
“We are thankful to our colleagues for putting this bill in the legislative priority list of the chamber. Our country is visited by not less than 20 typhoons every year and so the use of billboards should be regulated and mitigated as these pose a threat to general public safety during storms,” said Villanueva, a deputy speaker and one of the principal authors of the bill.
HB No. 7174 mandates that all advertising materials shall be automatically taken down by the billboard operator within 12 hours from an official announcement and/or release of a typhoon signal number 1 bulletin or any significant weather disturbance by the state weather bureau.
The bill prescribes the prohibition to be effective for the entire duration of the typhoon.
It covers tarpaulin-based billboards that need to be taken down and electronic-based billboards that shall be switched off.
“We acknowledge that billboards provide important benefits not only to promote specific businesses but more so as a mark or sign of a developing economy. However, we shall not compromise public safety especially during typhoons,” Villanueva said.
“If there is a typhoon signal, even if it is still signal number 1, but accompanied by strong winds, it should be a standard operating procedure to all operators to bring down their billboards for the safety of people and their properties” Rivera added.
Penalties will be imposed on billboard operators or any person who violates the provisions of the bill, including a fine of not less than P300,000 or imprisonment of six months to one year.