REPRESENTATIVES of the Southwood Mindanao Corporation (SMC), the management behind NCCC VP Department Store, said there is an immediate need to resolve the ventilation problem at NCCC VP after employees and some customers have fallen sick due to the high humidity.
Curtis Lazarraga, City Health Office (CHO) Sanitation Inspector II, said Thursday, September 12, they already visited the 26-year-old mall after receiving the letter of complaint signed by 523 people. This, after the mall management allegedly failed to respond to the employees’ concern. Lazarraga said they noticed that when they were inside, the humidity is a bit high especially in the department store and grocery areas.
“In general, the condition of the mall has a very high humidity factor. Considering that it is under our jurisdiction sa occupational health and safety, we have considered this situation really a condition not fit for a workplace because what we promote is always a healthy workplace but if conditions can affect the people, things have to be done,” Lazarraga said.
On Thursday, a technical conference at the City Health Office was attended by CHO, SMC, Department of Labor and Employment, and NCCC representatives.
Acknowledging that NCCC has a plan to improve the ventilation of the mall, SMC administrative manager Kristine Maagat said what they are requesting is the temporary solution since it would take several months before the ventilation problem is resolved.
She said they have been suffering from the warm temperature inside the mall in the last six months. Maagat added there were even shoppers who collapsed inside the department store because of the humidity. She said such an uncomfortable condition has potential health consequences to their employees.
The management of NCCC said that they already have a plan to improve the overall air conditioning system of Victoria Plaza Mall using modern units.
NCCC took over the city’s oldest mall last March 27 this year and in a statement, they said they already inherited the problem of air conditioning system from the previous owner. The air condition was functioning on minimum status due to ineffective and inefficient operation as the compressors were already subjected to repairs and rehabilitation for the past years.
The management said that the existing Packaged Air Conditioning Units (PACUs) are already ineffective to provide for the mall’s air conditioning system.
Rodolfu Saturos, NCCC representative, said they coordinated with a third party who assessed the existing air condition and recommended for replacement with the latest trend of air condition design instead of repairing the old units.
He added they will give SMC the audit of their assessment as to the main cause of the problem so on their level, they could address it.
“They (SMC) can proceed with their temporary solution but it has to align with our plan also because they have to understand NCCC has other tenants as well so kung for example we will allow them with their temporary [solution] but it will get in the way sa total and will sacrifice all other tenants, it is not fair so it has to align with our design and schedule,” Associate vice-president of LTS Mall, Inc. Althea Lucas said.
NCCC Mall public relations manager Thea Padua told SunStar Davao Thursday that the mall is also studying the possibility of legal actions against those who uploaded the video. However, they cannot provide additional details on this yet.
“We are happy to initially address matters and air out our side of things,” she said.