A dilapidated Cebu International Convention Center, built for Cebu’s 2007 hosting of the ASEAN Summit, displays a second 60-foot-wide yellow tarpaulin, this time with the cost of the CICC’s construction and political commentary about it going to waste. Whose message is this?
Mandaue City mayor investigates CICC billboard; Owner a no-show at Capitol
Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes isn’t happy with the “NEVER AGAIN” billboard in the facade of the Cebu International Convention Center.
The huge signage has no permit from Mandaue City, which co-manages the CICC and owns the land it’s built on.
Cortes asked city officials to convene the Mandaue City’s billboard and outdoor advertisement committee today to discuss whether the huge tarp signage has a “permit” to be mounted there and satisfies other legal requirements.
The CICC, built by the provincial government in 2006, is a fresh source of controversy with the sudden appearance of a yellow tarp measuring 60 feet by 20 feet, with a blatant political message, for which no one seems to be claiming authorship.
Cortes texted and called in instructions from Manila where he’s attending Mandaue’s special exhibit for the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec.)
In a phone interview, Councilor Diosdado Suico said he was informed through text that a complaint about the billboard has reached City Hall and that the committee would convene today for this.
Mayor Cortes heads the special body.
No Show
Yesterday was a no-show for the mysterious group “Cebuanos for Good Governance and Development” which had promised to meet Gov. Hillario Davide III at the Capitol today and explain their purpose for the large billboard set up last month.
The signatory, Mariel Kay Estrada as lead convenor, in a letter dated Oct. 26, said the group “will spearhead an awareness campaign against corruption.”
Asked if he knows the woman, the governor said he’s never met her.
Neither has Provincial Administrator Mark Tolentino, who said his office received the letter when he was out of town and the governor was out of the country.
The letter didn’t request permission from the Capitol but simply declared that “we mounted a streamer in the Cebu International Convention Center” because it was a “modern monument tainted with issues of corruption.”
A second yellow tarp that declared “P840,202,438.05 million of people’s money wasted !!!” was mounted in recent days, indicating the billboards were an attack ad directed at the previous administration of governor Gwendolyn Garcia, who is facing a case in the Ombudsman’s Office with six other officials for the CICC.
Governor Davide has allowed the streamers to remain, saying it jives with his good governance campaign.
However, with mixed public feedback about the signage and Mandaue City’s cool position distancing itself from the controversy, that position may change.
Yesterday, Davide said he was notified by a representative of Estrada’s group that their press conference would be held next week.
Davide said he still has to discuss how to deal with the billboard with the group that put it up there.
“For me, that is a reminder to the people of Cebu that the building is really anomalous. Although the construction was legal, it has many anomalies,” he told reporters yesterday.
Former governor Garcia, now Cebu 3rd district representative seeking reelection, has lambasted Davide for using a government facility for “political sloganeering”.
Mandaue’s billboard committee is chaired by Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes.
Committee members are architects Aldrin Bagaslao and Mandaue planning officer Florentino Nimor, engineers Bobbie Ronile and Dario Mago, and Eric Ng Mendoza of the business sector.
They are joined by representatives of the Outdoor Advertising Association of the Philippines (OAAP) Cebu Chapter.
The committee was formed last year to regulate the use and construction of outdoor billboards and advertising in accordance with the Mandaue City Comprehensive Master Plan.
Special access
Based on the city ordinance, a sign or signboard structure is anything that directs attention to a business, profession, commodity, service, or entertainment conducted, sold or offered at a place other than where the business, profession is located.
A party that wants to install or alter a signboard structure has to get a building permit from the Office of the Building Official.
Installation of the yellow two-story-high tarpaulins required special access in the CICC compound where guards are posted by the Cebu provincial government.
This has led most people to assume this was a campaign stunt of the Liberal Party, which is identified with the color and Davide’s role as LP provincial chairman. The mayor of Mandaue City is also an LP stalwart.
Since the election period begins in February 2016 for national officials and March for local contenders, technically there is no violation of the Fair Elections Act or Republic Act 9006 for unauthorized campaign propaganda.
Last Tuesday, Provincial Board (PB) Member Arleigh Sitoy, a former Liberal Party (LP)-ally-turned-critic, said the billboard gave the governor undue advantage that is “illegal and immoral.”
Free speech
He suggested that the CICC be converted into a common poster area and used as a venue for debates and forums for those running in next year’s elections.
“At the moment, it’s all good. That’s part of free speech,” Davide said, yesterday.
The governor earlier said he gave his “implicit approval” for the billboard since he shares their advocacy.
Asked if he would allow other groups to mount their own banners and slogans in front of the edifice, Davide said he yes “but that will depend on what they will put there. If they will insult me or if they attack the provincial government, then I won’t allow it.”
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