BY GEROME DALIPE IV
ILOILO City – The city government’s Office of the Building Official (OBO) is under fire for its threat to take down a billboard on a private property along the Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. Avenue in Mandurriao district. The billboard features May 2025 midterm election candidates from Team Sulong Gugma.
The legal counsel of businesswoman Elena Divinagracia, owner of Emicon Building in Barangay San Rafael, Mandurriao, wrote a letter to Engineer Mavi J. Gustilo, the head of OBO, warning that proceeding with the takedown could result in legal action.
“We are sending this letter to request you to consider the possible legal repercussions of the actions you are about to take,” the letter of law firm E.T. Reyes III & Associates stated.
They are prepared to pursue legal remedies to protect their client’s rights and interests, the law firm added.
In a notice of violation dated December 6, the OBO told Divinagracia that the two wall-mounted/projecting signs on her building were in violation of local regulations.
The notice indicated that the signs — one facing Pison Avenue and the other facing Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. Avenue — violated Section 1(f) in relation to Section 2(A) of Regulation Ordinance No. 2013-330, as amended by Regulation Ordinance No. 2020-119.
Section 1 of Ordinance No. 2020-119 prohibits the installation or attachment of billboards, streamers, posters, advertisements, or notices in public spaces.
The violation also includes lack of sign permits, referencing Rule 20 of the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of the National Building Code, specifically concerning additional rules and regulations on signs and sign board structures.
The notice reminded Divinagracia that previous Notices of Violation were issued on January 17, 2024, and February 24, 2021, regarding the same wall-mounted/projecting sign facing the Shell Gasoline Station.
OBO directed Divinagracia to voluntarily remove the illegal billboards/streamers within 24 hours of receiving the notice.
The office warned that failure to comply will result in the summary removal of the structures and may lead to further legal actions.
In their response to the notice of violation, lawyers Eduardo Reyes III, Chris Bea Enate, and Jan Renzo Besa, of E.T. Reyes III & Associates, raised several legal points in defense of Divinagracia.
They warned that the OBO would violate Regulation Ordinance No. 2013-330, as amended by Regulation Ordinance No. 2020-119, as well as fundamental due process rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
The lawyers said that Section 1 of Regulation Ordinance No. 2020-119 specifically prohibits the installation of billboards, streamers, posters, and advertisements only in public plazas and parks. They emphasized that the ordinance does not extend this prohibition to private buildings like Emicon Building.
The lawyers argued that imposing restrictions on private property in this context would infringe upon constitutional protections against unreasonable interference with private property rights.
They referenced jurisprudence where the Supreme Court had ruled that such interference should be declared unconstitutional if it is deemed excessive or unjustified.
In addition, the lawyers pointed out the OBO’s interpretation of Regulation Ordinance No. 2020-119 to include private buildings is erroneous and unconstitutional.
The lawyers argued that extending the Regulation Ordinance No. 2020-119 to cover private buildings would infringe upon their client’s private property rights, which are protected under the Constitution. They stressed that the ordinance, as written, does not address or include private properties in its scope, and to do so would unlawfully restrict their client’s use of her private property.
The lawyers added that the summary removal of billboards by the city engineer as threatened by the OBO is not supported by the ordinance.
They noted that Section 1 of the ordinance does not grant the city engineer the authority to immediately remove structures, as the OBO suggests.
Instead, they cited Section 2 of the ordinance, which specifically authorizes the city engineer to remove existing billboards only as of the ordinance’s enactment date on November 24, 2020.
Since Emicon Building’s billboard was installed after that date, it would not fall under the ordinance’s provisions for removal.
The lawyers emphasized that their client is not covered by Regulation Ordinance No. 2020-119 and, therefore, cannot comply with the demand for the removal of the billboard./PN
