My aunt and I went to see a movie last November at Robinson’s Magnolia in Quezon City. The mall had opened just minutes before we arrived, and my aunt gave me her senior citizen’s ID to show to the guard at the entrance of the parking basement. To our dismay, we were told all free parking slots for senior citizens had already been occupied.
That was not the only experience we had with the so-called “free parking” for senior citizens in Quezon City. SM malls are ruthless. Trinoma doesn’t care a hoot. Chances are, most senior citizens end up paying just like everybody else.
How did this happen? I just learned that while the city ordinance granted free parking privileges to senior citizens in Quezon City without limitations as to space, the Office for Senior Citizens Affairs (Osca), apparently on its own initiative, came up with implementing rules and regulations limiting the free parking slots for senior citizens to only 15. Why did the Osca do that? Why did it alter the intent of the ordinance? Is that even legal? Whose interest is it looking after anyway? The mall owners’ or the senior citizens’?
—MARITES DELA MERCED,
mardelamerc@gmail.com