A lawsuit has been officially filed by Attorney Raymond Fortun on behalf of Go Transit Media Group, Inc. against the Outdoor Advertisers Association of the Philippines (OAAP) for P20 million on the grounds of defamation and damages.
adobo first reported about the bitter dispute between the OAAP and Go Transit in our March/April 2010 issue, which stemmed from a letter written by Joe Vale, OAAP President, to Nandy Villar, then-President of the Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies – Philippines (4As-P) on December 1, 2009 that accused Go Transit’s chairman, Robert Henry, and the company for “belittling and disregarding our national laws”.
Go Transit, Australia’s largest provider of transit advertising, established its Philippine office two years ago, garnering over P60 million in advertising revenue and
setting the standard for transit advertising sizes in the country. Advertisers who sign up with Go Transit “are legally bound to an exclusive 10-year contract and therefore are unauthorized to accept advertising from any source other than Go Transit.”
As previously reported, a member of the OAAP had expressed concern about the threat that Go Transit poses in monopolizing the transit industry in the Philippines. OAAP, a 100+ member association of established outdoor Philippine advertising companies, was formed in 1964 to protect advertisers from unethical trade practices and invested in the “growth and advancement of the industry in the Philippines under the ideals of legal and ethical practice in the spirit of self-regulation.”
According to OAAP President Frank Abueva, “We are still negotiating to make a peaceful solution to this. There were misunderstandings in the beginning, but the lawyers are taking care of this.”
