Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 18) – One of the big mall operators in the country revealed on Monday they sought the help of the police and military in enforcing strict crowd control measures in their malls.
Ayala Malls President Jennylle Tupaz noted that crowd control is part of the transition roadmap they drafted to achieve safety protocols in their malls’ operations amid the relaxed quarantine measures in most areas of the country.
The military and police, Tupaz said, will help their own security and operations teams in implementing crowd control and other safety measures.
“We’re lucky they were there and we’re very thankful that today has been quite uneventful actually,” said Tupaz.
Tupaz added the military and police will specifically assist in entry protocols inside the malls and physical distancing guidelines.
Tupaz also emphasized they are strictly following the guidelines of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Emerging Infectious Diseases and local government units, especially in implementing strict physical distancing and health sanitation measures in their malls.
“We have signages and markers on the ground to guide them,” told Tupaz on how their shoppers will be guided in following their physical distancing rules inside the mall.
As their malls officially opened today, Tupaz assured the malls’ management will be vigilant in implementing safety measures as they are expecting the rise of people going to malls in the following days.
“The preparation worked well for us. People are excited, yes. But the number of shoppers is really not that many as yet. But we expect foot traffic to improve as occupancy increases. We’ll just continue to be vigilant in implementing these social distancing and health and safety protocols,” said Tupaz.
Under their portfolio, Ayala Malls has 38 shopping centers around the country.
Effective last Saturday, shopping malls in the country are allowed to reopen after two months of the enhanced community quarantine due to COVID-19.
The IATF-EID decided to reopen non-leisure shops in malls at 50-percent capacity so the public can avail of essential goods and services.
The Department of Interior and Local Government gave a warning yesterday to close down malls that are not implementing physical distancing and other health and safety protocols. The pronouncement came after photos in social media went viral that show a huge number of people inside the malls, despite the still present danger of COVID-19.
The Cavite provincial government ordered all malls in their province to close today for failing to follow health and safety guidelines set by the national government.
