All telecommunication companies and service providers that use overhead wires and cables are required to relocate and install their facilities underground starting this year in Muntinlupa.
This is mandated by Muntinlupa City Ordinance 2021-256 which was passed by the Muntinlupa City Council in August 2021.
Overhead wires and cables on roads in Muntinlupa (Photos from Muntinlupa City Engineering Office, Muntinlupa City government Facebook pages)
2021-056 is an “ordinance requiring/mandating all telecommunication companies, service providers, and other similar entities that use overhead wires and/or cables operating within the City of Muntinlupa to install and/or relocate wire and cable system underground.”
Muntinlupa Councilor Mamerto Sevilla Jr., chairman of the Committee on Land Use and Zoning and one of the sponsors of the ordinance, told Manila Bulletin that the ordinance will take effect by August this year.
"Yung ordinance kasi ipinasa noong 2021, August. Implied doon sa ordinance na after three years magte-take effect. So yung three years niya this August (The ordinance was passed in 2021. It is implied in the ordinance that it will take effect after three years. So the three years will be this August),” said Sevilla.
He said by August this year, affected companies under the first phase should have relocated their wires and cables underground.
The implementing rules and regulations (IRR) are being prepared by the Muntinlupa City government.
The ordinance stated that “it is necessary to protect the residents from the hazardous effects of overhead lines in the event of earthquakes, heavy rain or thunderstorms.”
“An underground cabling system will serve the purpose of having a sustainable, safe, and clean aesthetic view of power lines to respond to the changing needs of technology which are likewise less susceptive to mechanical damages,” it added.
The ordinance covers “all telecommunication companies, service providers, and other similar entities which use overhead wires and cables located within the territorial jurisdiction of the City of Muntinlupa.”
The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) will be allowed to maintain its overhead wiring and cabling subject to restrictions.
Under the Muntinlupa ordinance, telecommunication companies and service providers are defined as “any company, private corporation or business entity which has a franchise to operate a system of transmission of signs, signals, messages, words, writings, images and sounds or information of any nature by wire, radio, optical electromagnetic systems.”
Implementation
The implementation of the ordinance will be in phases. Within three years from the effectivity of the ordinance or 2024, the overhead cables and wires on the following Muntinlupa roads should be relocated underground:
- Whole stretch of the National Road from Barangay Sucat to Barangay Tunasan including West and East Service Road
- Whole stretch of Alabang-Zapote Road located within the jurisdiction of Muntinlupa City
- Whole stretch of Meralco Road, Barangay Sucat
- Whole stretch of Susana Avenue, Barangay Tunasan
Within four years from the effectivity of the ordinance or by 2025, those covered are “overhead wires, cables, poles, and other accessories located in the whole stretch of the city road or T.M. Road from Barangay Sucat to Barangay Tunasan.”
Within five years from the effectivity of the ordinance or by 2026, covered are “overhead wires and cables located in the whole stretch of the city road from all secondary streets in all the barangays in City of Muntinlupa.”
These are: Espeleta Road, Barangay Buli; Montillano Road, Barangay Alabang; Molino Street, Barangay Alabang; Bautista Street, Barangay Bayanan; Bruger Street, Barangay Putatan; Estanislao Street, Barangay Putatan; Roman Cruz Avenue; Kapihan Street, Barangay Poblacion; Sto. Nino Street, Barangay Poblacion; Rizal Street, Barangay Poblacion; Quezon Street, Barangay Poblacion; and Rodriguez Street, Barangay Tunasan.
Meralco
Meralco will be allowed to maintain its current overhead wiring and cabling system in Muntinlupa but with restrictions.
Under the ordinance, the minimum height of the overhead wires and cables of Meralco which will cross any street should be five meters on secondary and T.M. roads, and eight meters for national road.
“All overhead wires and cables shall be properly bundled, where feasible. All cables or wires crossing any street should have a minimum distance of one hundred (100) meters. Compliance with the foregoing requirements shall be completed within three (3) years from the effectivity Of this Ordinance,” the ordinance added.
Penalties
Any covered entity that will violate the ordinance will be fined P5,000 for the first offense. For the second offense, the penalties revocation of business permit and license to operate within Muntinlupa and removal and destruction, at the instance and expense of the offending covered entity, of all its wires, cables, poles, and accessories within the city.
Here is a copy of Muntinlupa Ordinance 2021-256:
