San Juan checks on safety of parking buildings in Greenhills

A parking lot accident at the Greenhills Shopping Center also happened in 2014, in which then 73-year-old Juanito Nocus was injured. (Contributed photo by JEFFROY MIRAFLOR)

All parking buildings in Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan City are temporary structures, but they should nevertheless follow safety measures, Sen. JV Ejercito said on Monday.

Ejercito’s mother, Guia Gomez, is the current mayor of San Juan.

The safety of these parking buildings, the senator said, is now one of the subjects of investigation by the city government after another car fell from the third floor of a car park at the shopping mall Sunday morning.

The driver of the car is Sen. Grace Poe’s father-in-law, 83-year-old Dr. Teodoro Paraiso Llamanzares, who sustained fractured ribs and bruises but was pronounced in stable condition at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center.

READ: Poe’s father-in-law safe after SUV falls from elevated parking space

Ejercito noted that this is not the first time that this incident happened in the area.

In 2014, a car also fell from an elevated parking space in the area. The driver of the car, then 73-year-old Juanito Nocus, was also hurt in the incident.

READ: Car falls from elevated parking lot in busy commercial center

“Kasi yung mga parking buildings ngayon dun are all temporary, lahat yun temporary. But still they have to provide stoppers and make sure that it is safe,” the senator told reporters on Monday.

“So yan ang iimbestigahan ngayon ng city government kung merong liability o pagkukulang dun sa mga tinatayong mga parking buildings. Because these are all temporary habang gingagawa yung ibang permanent structures yung mga underground parking,” he said.

Ejercito noted, however, that the structures were sturdy and some of them were erected five to 10 years ago.

“These are all temporary infrastructures, but again that doesn’t mean hindi sinusunod yung safety measures,” he said. /atm