Why is the Metro Manila Development Authority empowering itself to dictate how businesses operate, especially the malls and their tenants, during the rush for the Christmas season.
Imagine MMDA prohibiting simultaneous mall-wide sales in the National Capital Region and telling mall operators and tenants to not advertise about their sales events. Pray tell me, how do they promote such a special bargain opportunity to their customers sans advertising?.
The business of MMDA is to ensure a smooth flow of traffic, and mall operations have nothing to do with traffic except for undisciplined drivers who make use of EDSA as their parking place, just for their own convenience.
In which case, MMDA's intervention should only be on the road side and that means cleaning the road of obstructions right there and then, by towing the cars of undisciplined motorists. Simple.
But to tell mall operators and their tenants how to operate and preventing them from mall-wide sales events is simply overreaching, as the Manila Times editorial said.
MMDA Task Force Special Operations chief Garbiel Go said while stores can hold sales these must be conducted without large-scale promotions. Huh! The reason being MMDA wants to ease traffic congestion during the Christmas season.
Metro Manila malls began implementing adjusted operating hours on Nov. 18 to alleviate monstrous traffic jams. Shopping malls now open at 11 a.m., an hour later than usual, and will maintain this schedule until Dec. 25.
MMDA Chair Romando Artes said the malls’ closing time remains at their operators’ discretion as agreed upon during coordination meetings with their representatives.
Artes said the MMDA implemented measures to prevent major roads from becoming “massive parking lots” during the Christmas season.
Among these measures is a restricted delivery schedule for mall goods, with deliveries permitted only between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Deliveries of perishable items are exempt from the restriction.
Artes said the agency opted to reinstate measures to prevent Metro Manila roads from becoming "massive parking lots" during the Christmas season.
The malls are also expected to enforce a limited schedule of deliveries, except those carrying perishable goods. This will now run from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., including avoiding mall-wide sales.
As the newspaper's editorial said: “These rules, which are characterized by the MMDA as measures to control holiday season traffic congestion, are a gross overreach of the MMDA's authority, and the agency should be compelled to rescind them by whatever action is appropriate — likely an executive order from the president — if it does not see reason on its own and lift them. Not only have regulations such as these proven to be wholly ineffective, but they are also an unjustified restraint of trade against mall businesses.”
“Historically, the MMDA, no matter who is leading the agency, has approached traffic management using the "let's throw ideas at the wall and see which ones stick" methodology. To our knowledge, there has never been a proper study conducted to determine if mandating adjusted mall hours actually reduces traffic congestion. If the MMDA has such a study, we invite them to share it,” the Manila Times editorial emphasized.
Anecdotally, adjusting mall hours appears to increase traffic congestion rather than easing it. Mall-bound road traffic simply shifts an hour later, which means that the usual decrease in traffic during the short interval between morning rush hour and lunchtime traffic is now filled by the mall traffic. In effect, this extends morning rush hour congestion into the early afternoon, it noted.
Likewise, traffic congestion attributed to malls closing extends the evening rush hour congestion until late at night.
MMDA's choice of method to reduce traffic congestion, does not actually work and besides, MMDA's arrogation of power to itself during a special season does not just affect the businesses of malls and their tenants but the overall economy too.
There is a little wisdom in limiting truck traffic to the least-congested hours of the day, but as the Times said it might not be necessary as the malls and commercial centers already observe designated delivery hours; the few that do not should adjust to the 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. schedule.
Meanwhile, retailers represented by the Philippine Retailers Association, are objecting to MMDA's ruling saying the MMDA sale ban on the 29 malls in the stretch of
EDSA runs counter to free enterprise and deprives consumers of information about promotions this Christmas season, said PRA president Roberto S. Claudio to Business World.
“The malls are willing to agree with coordinated scheduling,” he said as he broached the idea of two malls at a time scheduling mall-wide sales every three days, which would ease congestion.
The MMDA said vehicles traversing EDSA are at 464,000 daily, which would surge to 480,000 with travel speed at 18 kph by the third week of December. ly at 464,000 daily, which is expected to increase to 480,000, with travel speed averaging 18 kilometers per hour by the third week of December.
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