As the Philippines braces for Typhoon Koppu this weekend, many billboards in Manila are being dismantled. After a billboard collapsed and killed a motorist almost ten years ago, city administrators have taken to rolling down the hundreds of tarpaulins in the city as part of their routine storm preparation procedure.
To prevent physical and collateral damage during typhoons, extra precautions must be taken for the hundreds of advertising billboards that choke Manila’s skyline. These billboards peddling anything from mobile phones, to fast food restaurants, condominiums, face whitening creams and even election candidates are all designed to reach the masses stuck in the notoriously horrendous traffic jams in the Philippine capital’s main highways.
But the threat of a storm washes all this away—at least temporarily.
During these times, travelers get a reprieve from the visual blight and enjoy rare views of Manila’s skyline usually obscured by these billboards.
