Shopping mall owners agree to limit sale skeds, delivery hours

Mall-wide sales in Metro Manila will be allowed only until Oct. 31.

In a meeting on Wednesday between mall owners and the Inter-Agency Council on Traffic (I-Act), they agreed that mall sales would be held only on weekends from Nov. 1 until Jan. 9 next year.

Both sides earlier agreed to implement the no-weekend sale policy starting Oct. 21. But MMDA General Manager Tim Orbos said they moved it to Oct. 31 in consideration of some malls which had already scheduled their sales on weekdays.

Orbos clarified that certain department stores and tenants having a sale inside a mall would also be required to coordinate with I-Act.

Mall operators should also submit their traffic management plan two weeks ahead of a scheduled mall-wide sale.

They also promised to abide by the traffic superbody’s “no-daytime delivery” proposal, which limits their deliveries to the period between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.

Assistant Transport Secretary Mark de Leon also said motorists would no longer be allowed to take up parts of a busy road while queuing for mall parking.

He suggested that mall owners look for parking spaces outside their premises, such as those in nearby office establishments on Ayala and Ortigas Avenues. —DEXTER CABALZA