FACEBOOK can be a useful tool after all, instead of being just a social networking site.
The site was used to raise funds and help victims of recent natural calamities. For Thomasians, it became a venue for complaints against the UST carpark management which got flak for charging overnight fees for vehicles stranded by flooding last September 26.
In a letter sent to the Varsitarian last October 5, JP Cabrera, general manager of the carpark, said operator Selegna Holdings Corp. would refund parking fees paid last September 27, a day after tropical storm “Ondoy” flooded UST and trapped 3,000 people.
This was after a Facebook user posted on her thread that she was charged P500 for parking at the carpark during the storm. Cabrera also said that Selegna Holdings also received a written complaint from a Thomasian.
In her post last September 30, the Facebook user said: “I asked if I can leave my ID and just pay my parking bill the next day, because I got stranded for two days and was out of cash, but the sales assistant even told me in my face that ‘business is business’ and I have to leave my car until I pay full.”
Another Thomasian who replied to the thread said he was also charged P500 for parking his car for 30 hours as a result of waist-deep flooding on campus.
Selegna Holdings, in a notice posted at the carpark entrance, said those who want to avail themselves of the refund must present a receipt or car registration documents, along with identification cards at the carpark office on the second level of the building.
The carpark administration had removed its P20 student rate for the first two hours and P10 for the succeeding hours, and now charges all customers P29 for the first two hours and P11.50 for succeeding hours.
Selegna Holdings operates the carpark under a 2004 build-operate-transfer agreement with UST, which is attempting to take over the building after the private firm ran to the court for rehabilitation. Jennifer Ann G. Ambanta
