{"id":32520,"date":"2014-11-22T21:12:40","date_gmt":"2014-11-22T13:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=32520"},"modified":"2014-11-22T21:58:49","modified_gmt":"2014-11-22T13:58:49","slug":"fifteen-malls-on-edsa-to-adopt-mmda-open-late-close-late-mall-scheme-for-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/11\/22\/fifteen-malls-on-edsa-to-adopt-mmda-open-late-close-late-mall-scheme-for-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifteen malls on EDSA to adopt MMDA \u2018open late-close late\u2019 mall scheme for holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Manila<\/a>
Manila traffic (Photo courtesy of PanoBaMagBlog on WordPress)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA, Philippines\u2014As a measure to alleviate the crush of cars this holiday season along one of Manila\u2019s main thoroughfares, operators of shopping malls situated along the stretch of EDSA have conceded to adjusting their hours of operation.<\/p>\n

Mall operators discussed the plan\u2014on its first year of implementation\u2014with Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) officials at a meeting held on Friday, November 21, at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City.<\/p>\n

A manifesto for the \u201copen late-close late\u201d scheme was signed by the operators, who agreed to apply an 11 a.m.\u201311 p.m. operations schedule from November 28 to January 3; instead of the usual 10 a.m. to 9 or 10 p.m. mall schedule.<\/p>\n

Francis Tolentino, chairperson of the MMDA, said that the \u201csacrifice\u201d of the mall operators \u201cwill surely alleviate the traffic situation in Metro Manila during the holiday rush.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MMDA pointed out that the volume of vehicles on the roads, particularly on EDSA, increases by 15-20 percent during the holiday season.<\/p>\n

As such, the agency is positive that the temporary schedule adjustment will help ease road conditions; as the traffic to and from the malls will not coincide with early morning and early evening rush hour traffic.<\/p>\n

Paul Santos of the Philippine Retailers Association raised a matter of concern regarding the new system, as he said that employees who work beyond 10 pm are entitled to a night differential pay rate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe changing of the schedule for more than a month will certainly raise our cost. There is one consequence for us, for example. If our employees are made to work beyond 10 p.m., we are required to pay them a night differential which is a cost implication for us,\u201d Santos said.<\/p>\n

But he acquiesced to the decision of the mall operators, noting that \u201csince they (mall operators) have agreed, we retailers will go with the idea and hope that the (MMDA) chair\u2019s proposal will help improve Metro Manila traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fifteen malls along EDSA signed their agreement to the temporary scheme; among these, SM Megamall, SM Mall of Asia, Trinoma, Farmers Plaza, Robinson\u2019s Galleria and Robinson\u2019s Pioneer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA, Philippines\u2014As a measure to alleviate the crush of cars this holiday season along one of Manila\u2019s main thoroughfares, operators …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":24001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,19],"tags":[8724,8723,3119,8725,806],"class_list":["post-32520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-business","tag-holidays-edsa","tag-mall-schedule","tag-mmda","tag-rush-hour","tag-traffic","mauthors-angie-duarte","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}