No Parking Sign on a blue wall with two chairs below it, Quezon City, July 2013
No Parking sign on a monobloc chair, Quezon City, February 2011
No Parking Sign in Front of Refinery, Makati, Phlippines, April 2009
Scout Fuentebella Street, Quezon City, Philippines, March 2016
No Parking stenciled on a street side lunch counter, Paco, Manila, October 2013
no parking sign on yellow wall, August 2009
downtown Manila, Bindondo, October 2013
No Parking sign in front of grotto, San Juan, February 2015
downtown Manila, Bindondo, October 2013
Sagada, Mountain Province, March 2015
Quezon City, February 2008
No Parking sign in front of a street Virgin Mary grotto, August 2009
Scout Fuentebella Street, Quezon City, Philippines, March 2016
Manila, October 2013
San Juan, October 2013
Manila, October 2013
Banawe, Quezon City, March 2015
No Parking sign on a ledge in front of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Quezon City, December 2014
Intramuros, Manila, April 2010
near or around Galas/ Santol, Quezon City, January 2009
Makati, Philippines, Dec. 2014
Sagada, Mountain Province, March 2015
San Juan, February 2015
Sagada, Mountain Province, March 2015
San Juan, February 2015
Sagada, Mountain Province, March 2015
Quezon City, March 2009
Batangas, March 2015
Sagada, Mountain Province, March 2015
March 2009
Makati, Philippines, September 2014
No Parking sign in front of a street Virgin Mary grotto, February 2015
Makati, March 2015
in front of University of Asia and the Pacific, March 2015
Makati, Philippines, January 2016
Baguio, Philippines, June 2017 (with a handwritten “no pissing allowed here” sign behind it)
Quezon City, Philippines, March 2018 (No Parking Anytime with a small “read this” in Tagalog below it and a cat)
Most people in the Philippines think of rules as mere suggestions. Most people, if they could afford it, would also immediately buy a car to get around Metro Manila. Public transportation is famously decentralized and different kinds of transportation do not easily connect to one another.
No parking rules are just one of the many rules treated as a suggestion in the Philippines. Other ubiquitous “does that need to be said?” signs are “No peeing allowed here” (bawal umihi dito) and “Don’t throw your garbage here” (bawal magtapon ng basura dito). The latter sign really means that, it’s not as minor as “no littering”.
Many of the signs aren’t government- erected. They’re simply handwritten signs on a board, put up by a frustrated home or store owner. And some of the official no parking signs are in places where in many other countries in the globe, you wouldn’t need to be told not to park (as it’s that obvious). However, since every unmarked area is considered fair game by motorists, you need to spell it out.
Back to the gallery.