NEWSFLASH

LAS PINAS TO BURY ALL PHONE, POWER CABLES

Las Pinas City, Jan. 27, 2000 This city made famous by the Bamboo Organ and the jeepney factories could be the first to say goodbye to all power and phone cables, as well as the all-too-familiar Meralco electric posts.

Vice-Mayor Luis Bustamante, presiding officer of the Sangguniang Panlungsod (city council), announced that the council has just passed a new ordinance to rid the city of these eyesores.

According to the Las Piñas City vice-mayor, "hanging cables are already antiquated and obsolete because most cities in the world have done this kind of 'facelifting'."

He added that "as the country’s cleanest and greenest city, we shall serve as the role model by replicating what other progressive cities did ahead of us."

Bustamante explained that all existing overhanging cables mounted or interconnected on poles and posts in all streets and alleys in the city shall be allowed to exist for only five years from the date of the approval of the ordinance.

"During those five years, companies which own the hanging cables will be required to pay the sum of P100 per pole or post, and failure to comply with the requirement of underground connections after the lapse of five years, the P100 requirement will be increased to P200," he said.

Penalty for violating any provision of the ordinance is a fine of P5,000, or an imprisonment of three years, or both fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court.