Ever come across the words Bawal Umihi Dito? Often painted on the walls with big and bold capital letters, with a putrid stench that feels like insult to injury. These are the signs that we can say are so very uniquely Filipino, to the point it’s become an iconic part of our culture!

Let’s dive in.

Bawal Umihi Dito has its many variations. Sometimes written in full, sometimes shortened like a text message. Some have even taken it upon themselves to write something humorous, or even threatening.

We’ve talked about disobedience punishable by death, but have you ever seen signs that threaten to cut your member off? When signmakers get angry, that happens!

The point is, when the phrase is parroted over and over, it’s natural that people end up getting creative with it.

But with all of its variations, almost every single one is written in Filipino. Why isn’t it Do not Urinate? Or Do Not Pee?

Well, the main thing is its location. If you ever once tried to observe our urban cities, chances are you’ll notice that all of these signs are most frequently seen in the alleyways or streets. On the corners of the roads or the sides of the buildings. A lot of the Bawal Umihi Dito signs aren’t necessarily in formal and institutional areas.

Rather, they’re in street-level spaces, speaking directly to those who live and move through it. It’s no wonder that it speaks in the everyday person’s tongue instead.

But aside from those, there is a clearer, sharper, more specific target. The expected culprit behind the issue at hand.

Men.

Gideon Lasco’s book: The Philippines is Not a Small Country touches on this. In the essays that he wrote, one of them chronicled the reasons as to why Bawal Umihi Dito is such a common sign in the Philippines. If you’re curious and want to know more, we encourage you to read his essay here.

With our country’s relationship with masculinity, Bawal Umihi Dito is evidence that for the men here, the world is your urinal.

It’s really no surprise that men are the main target for the tried solutions these past few years.

Like with Bayani “BF” Fernando, former chairperson of MMDA in the year 2002 to 2009, and his Metro Gwapo Campaign. Metro Gwapo was his vision of a cleaner, more orderly Metro Manila. Efforts were made to beautify the metropolis, from footbridges to waiting sheds, all in his favorite color. And since cleanliness was a major part of that vision, it’s no surprise that issues like public urination were also addressed. With that, pink urinals soon scattered about the city.

But … it wasn’t enough!

While the men liked the option, the lack of maintenance on the facilities themselves made the urinals a violation to public sanitation rather than the solution it was intended to be. The design itself wasn’t fit for public use. There were no doors and roofs. The place you were intended to pee in were just small tubes you need to aim for, which a lot of people had trouble doing drunk or in the middle of the night. There was also no way to wash off the urine, and no faucet to clean your hands.

The accumulated pee just ends up evaporating in the sweltering heat of our climate, and the stench it leaves… lingers.

Is that really the best solution we got?

The point is – discipline has always been the main concept being thrown around, but has enough really been done?

Filipinos are disciplined in a city that fails to make space for them. Had we obtained enough funding for strategically placed public comfort rooms instead of measly cubicles, then maybe the results wouldn’t have been so drastic.

And that’s where signage comes into play. If Bawal Umihi Dito signs are still scattered about, that means there’s still a problem. Still cracks in the system. Is it the governance? Is it discipline? Is it the effects of urbanization? Overpopulation?

Or is it everything tangled into some big ball of mess that we have to figure out?

If we don’t start looking into these, if we don’t start asking questions, when will we start?

We highly recommend checking out our three-part series on the topic for a more visually-engaging experience on informal signs.

Or, if you prefer to experience our sign-filled metropolis firsthand, take a stroll and capture photos of fascinating signage yourself. Help us document them through our sign map!

Most of what we say is derived from our own research. If you’re interested in reading more about the socio-spatial analysis of informal signage in Metro Manila’s public spaces, read here.

MMDA urinals leave Stink in coa report | inquirer news. (2012) https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/224253/mmda-urinals-leave-stink-in-coa-report

Lasco, G. (2015). Making sense of “bawal Umihi Dito” signs in the Philippines. Gideon Lasco’s Medical Anthropology Page. https://www.gideonlasco.com/2015/01/making-sense-of-bawal-umihi-dito-signs.html