BAGUIO CITY – Concerned residents in the city called on some of the senior citizens availing of the free movies inside SM City Baguio not to abuse the said privilege because management might decide to cancel the privilege.
Observers who were able to witness the usual scenario in the SM cinema area every Tuesday where senior citizens are given free movie admissions said they are ashamed of the behaviour of some of the senior citizens who seem to be worst like children when going to watch their favourite movies for free.
Some of the senior citizens allegedly refuse to fall in line and they try to insert themselves in the long lines that actually irk their fellow senior citizens which often result to verbal altercations among them.
Aside from trying to get one over their fellow senior citizens, a number of them try to boast that their husbands or wives are professionals or that their sons and daughters are ranking government and private employees, thus, they deserve to be respected and must be given priority in the long lines for them to have access to a good position inside the cinemas.
Based on the observations of concerned citizens, some of them even use their canes to hurt their fellow senior citizens that often result to verbal altercations and when security guards and cinema employees try to interfere and pacify the commotions, the embattled senior citizens often hurt them with the use of their canes which should not actually be the case.
The sources claimed the free movie access being provided by SM management to senior citizens is actually free upon the request of the local government through a resolution but contrary to the belief of many senior citizens that the city is paying for their free movie access, it is not actually being done because it is only a privilege granted by SM management.
In Makati City, it is the city government that pays the movie passes being granted to senior citizens for their free access to cinemas in the city while in Rosales, Pangasinan, the municipal government granted a reduction on the amusement taxes being paid by SM Rosales to only 5 percent because the management allows senior citizens to have free movie access to their cinemas daily.
Sources expressed disappointment over such unsightly scenarios inside the mall when it is the schedule of senior citizens to have free movie viewing that is why they are calling on the concerned senior citizens to discipline themselves to prevent the mall management from scrapping the privilege that it has granted to them because they are the authority to do so once they are fed up with their alleged abuses during their scheduled free viewing day.
However, the sources admitted that there are more disciplined senior citizens compared to those who are unruly but the unsightly scenarios that are triggered by the unruly ones catches the attention of cinema and mall goers that depict a bad image to the group, thus, the need for them to start instilling discipline among their ranks when going to the movie houses inside the mall and not to wait for the worst case scenario to be done before being able to ponder on their bad deeds when watching movies for free inside SM.
By HENT
