A POPULAR shopping mall in Mandaluyong dismissed its security guard after he was seen in a viral video kicking a young girl and destroying sampaguita she was selling outside the establishment.
In a statement on Thursday, SM Megamall said it had called the attention of the agency of the security guard to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation over the viral incident.
“We regret and sympathize with the young girl who experienced an unfortunate incident outside our mall,” the shopping mall said.
In the viral video shared on different social media platforms, the security guard was seen instructing the young sampaguita vendor in a school uniform, who was sitting on the stairs outside the mall, to leave the area.
He then grabbed and destroyed her sampaguita, prompting the young girl to hit him with the flowers.
The guard then kicked the girl, as the latter continued to hit him with her damaged sampaguita. The guard blocked the young girl’s attacks and insisted on making her leave the mall’s premises.
The mall said it “strongly condemned” the guard’s actions towards the young vendor, stressing that it “always promotes inclusivity for all.”
Viral video draws flak
The viral clip, which has thousands of shares on Facebook alone, earned the ire of many netizens, with some saying he could have just asked the girl to leave properly.
“Okay na sana yung sitahin lang pero yung sirain pa ‘yung paninda… It’s a big NO!!” one Facebook user commented.
Former Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Rowena Guanzon also expressed her frustration over the guard’s behavior toward the young girl, from whom she always buys sampaguita whenever she passes by SM Megamall.
“Hindi nga siya namimilit di tulad ng ibang nagtitinda basta nakaupo lang siya dun at aalukin ka,” she wrote in a Facebook post.
Some netizens, on the other hand, defended the security guard and said people should hear his side of the story first.
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