Several BF Resort business owners affected by strict gate policies by new BOD?

Security or Commerce? Is there a compromise for this? The new BFRV BOD and business owners certainly hope so.

A couple of business owners reached out to Alabang Bulletin last week saying their businesses have taken a significant hit right after the new homeowners association officers assumed office some one month and a half ago and implemented stricter access into the village.

One business owner said “sales have been extremely bad”, saying there is a 50 to 60% decrease in sales.

The business owners are blaming the stricter entry into the Las Pinas village, noting that customers from outside the village now opt to go elsewhere to avoid the long lines and traffic at the village gates.

Some said that sales are even worse than during the height of the lockdowns.

Other business owners said they had to layoff some workers since their revenues could not support their payroll anymore.

It can be recalled that the new BF Resort Village Homeowners Association Inc. officers imposed stricter entry into the village by asking their guards to diligently check all vehicles entering the subdivision and to only allow those with resident or non-resident stickers and to ask for proper IDs for those without village stickers.

BFRVHAI also restricted entrance from the Cavite Bridge side of the village to those with BF Resort stickers.

One of the business establishments inside BF Resort posting about their struggle on Facebook.

In an interview with new BFRVHAI president Euan Toralballa last week, he said the board acknowledges the concerns of business owners but that their complaints need to be supported by facts so they can act on it if ever.

“We have around 1,100 business establishments inside the village. If you do the Math, the 60,000-resident population should be more than enough client base for them,” expressed Toralballa, adding that all the other nine gates of BFRV are open to Friendship Route stickers from 5am to 10pm and that only one gate (Cavite Bridge) has been regulated to those with BFRV stickers only.

Toralballa also mentioned that they have established a BFRV Business Club, headed by one of their directors who is also a business owner.

The group aims to organize all business establishments inside the village and give them a channel to voice out their concerns and recommendations to the new BOD.

“We are trying to organize things,” explained Toralballa, seemingly asking for everyone’s patience as they do so.

The BFRV Business Club held an initial meeting some two weeks ago and will be holding another one in the next two weeks, as seen in a Facebook post.

“We’ll have to balance things out but the major consideration will always be homeowners,” reiterated the new BFRVHAI president.

For now, maybe we can help these business establishments out by dining there. All gates are passable to non-residents and those without stickers can leave their IDs with the guards at the gate (except Cavite Bridge).

Here’s to hoping a compromise is reached between the two parties so commerce and security can co-exist in the village.