Sometimes violation cannot be seen. We are restricted to label them as one because we are busy pushing ourselves to the waves of narrow-minded people.
I fully remembered the day when I was walking alone inside a not so famous mall, scrubbing my shoulders to the full-length windows of different stores and making wishes that all of these clothes and shoes could be mine forever (fingers crossed!) while sipping my favorite nai cha (milk tea).
After an hour of walking and wishing and sipping, I just suddenly felt a need for bathroom. I searched for one and when I am about to enter the comfort room (it is not for comfort, seriously), a guard or whatever you called it suddenly waved at me and said,
"Ma'am bayad po muna."
I felt the raged of blood inside my system and asked her,
"Ha? Bakit po may bayad? Diba po public toilet ito?"
And then she replied with uneasiness, "May bayad po five pesos, kung ayaw niyo po doon na lang kayo mag c-r sa kabila."
Dumbfounded, I rushed to the other side of the mall and there I found a free comfort room.
...
Quezon City Representative Winston Castelo, in his House Bill 5225, prohibits the malls and other establishments to collect fees for the use of comfort rooms. He said that this is an ancillary service (which is in fact correct) that will freely given to the customers and mall-goers.
However, the sad state of reality defines this house bill as a "waste" which is very disheartening. Almost all the largest malls in the Philippines have this kind of policy.
As my mind would actually remembers, it is the responsibility of every mall owner to have comfort rooms for their customers. But the very sad fact is that the customer should choose between an unpaid, foul odor comfort room or a paid, pleasant comfort room. A choice that would never be fair at all because most of the people especially in a place where socialite is invisible and highly-branded stores have no place for operation, it is impossible for them to pay... because every penny is worth saving.
Mr Castelo is very clear on this bill and this should not be put to waste. I agree with him that there is no single customer who is willing to pay for this fee. This is just for profit. This is just for their big-bulge pocket!
Comfort room is an essential part of every establishments especially in malls where thousands of people go. Paying for it is a clear violation. Violation which is always hidden from the naked and innocent minds of the people.
A lady with a blue mask is guarding an executive comfort room with white-tiled floor.
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