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Fernando assails critics of MMDA ‘pink’ projects

By Pat C. Santos

01/12/2009

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando yesterday lambasted militant lawmakers calling for a House probe into the use of the color pink in traffic signages, saying the solons should instead focus on crafting laws.

“All our programs are in accordance with local and international standards. We see nothing wrong with them,” Fernando said, adding motorists are in favor of the pink-colored signages.

The MMDA chief said the Vienna Convention cited by the lawmakers does not prohibit the use of colors other than white, yellow, red, black, blue, green and orange as internationally accepted colors for traffic signs, markings and traffic lights.

“The Convention is very clear that it does not prohibit the use of colors other than those cited, much less the pink color,” Fernando added, deliberately ignoring the colors the Convention prescribed.

Earlier, Bayan Muna Reps. Satur Ocampo and Teodoro Casiño, Gabriela Reps. Liza Maza and Luzviminda Ilagan and Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano had asked Congress to investigate in aid of legislation the MMDA’s penchant for pink colors and the pink signs and structures, saying they not only mar the urban landscape but also violate local and international traffic safety regulations.

The color pink is not in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, to which the Philippines is one of the signatories, which states the standard colors and sizes that should be used in road signs, the lawmakers said in their resolution.

They also said the MMDA signs also go against Administrative Order 160-A titled “Specifying the Legal Grounds and Procedures for the Prohibition and abatement of Billboards and Signboards Constituting Public Nuisance or Other Violations of Law.”

But Fernando insisted the MMDA has not violated any law even as he turned the tables on the lawmakers calling them a “nuisance” than the agency.

“By definition, a public nuisance is any act, omission, establishment of condition of property, or anything which annoys or offends the senses. Going by this definition, then lumalabas na bawa’t isa sa mga mambabatas na nabanggit ay public nuisance,” Fernando said.

Fernando himself was described by Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez as a nuisance bet for the 2010 presidential elections for repeatedly insisting on his intention to run in the 2010 presidential derby despite being rejected by his own partymates for figuring poorly in all political suveys.

Instead of calling for a House probe, Fernando said, the lawmakers should focus their work on coming up with legislation on how to improve traffic safety in the country.

Better still, he said, they should amend the Vienna Convention and institute whatever reforms or changes they have in mind.

“There is a very petty issue. They should just concentrate their energies on true public nuisance such as the graffiti and vandals posted by members of Left-leaning groups which are more a nuisance than our signs,” he said in an utter display of arrogance and disregard for the elected lawmakers.