Is DMCI Condominium a PWD-friendly home?

Growing up, a condominium is not really an ideal home for me. Maybe because of the constricted spaces and its ridiculously high prices. At the back of my mind, why would someone invest on a property that has a lifespan of 50 years and won't even own that lot? Well, that thinking changed due to some reasons.

Let me give you little bit of background why we ended up buying a DMCI condominium unit.

Starting a family earlier than most people of our age, plus my daughter's condition, is kind of a big challenge for us. We lived with my in-laws, although we occupy a separate part of the house. But as time passed by, the place became too crowded for us. Not that I had a problem with my in-laws but my daughter is growing up and I wanted her to breath some fresh air. We also have two house helpers back then because we both work in the office. Later on, when our finances got a little better, my husband and I started thinking about moving out to our own place. So we started to scout some house rentals around the city. We also had a chance to visit one mid-rise condominium in Taguig and we fell in love with that place because of the resort-like ambiance of the property. Since the property is ready for occupancy, the price is too much for us. So we turned it down.

To cut the story short, we ended up renting a bungalow house in Paranaque. And we lived happily ever after... not until we had a grumpy neighbor! Kidding aside, we really loved that place. The location is so close to the banks, restaurants, pharmacy, supermarkets and more. The traffic was great when we moved there. My daughter also started attending therapy school within the city. We brought her almost everyday for an hour therapy session. As days passed by, the traffic worsened and my daughter's travel time changed from 30 minutes to 1 hour. Sometimes, she's not able to make it on time so we needed to cancel the session and she will travel back home. See? She prepped for an hour and traveled for more or less three hours for an hour-session. What is worst than that?

(Glitters please...)

One day, while on our way to the therapy school, we chanced to pass by a pre-selling condominium property being built. We took a flyer and had a chat with an agent.

Arista Place

Live the resort life in the midst of the city

A gem in Parañaque City, this Asian Tropical themed condominium community comprises an abundant array of leisure amenities fit for your family's lifestyle. Beautifully nestled along the city confines, Arista Place brings you in a relaxed but secured ambiance topped with the utmost exclusivity, ensuring you of a place you can call 'Home'.

Wow! We wanted to own a place we can call our "Home Sweet Home". Most importantly, it is closer to my daughter's therapy school, like just 5-mins away. It has a swimming pool for her aqua therapy. She can breathe fresh air when we stroll at the park. She can have her birthday parties at the function hall so we don't have to find a venue. We all had that in mind. It's for her convenience.

Since it is a pre-selling property, the buildings and the amenities are not yet built that time. We can only view a miniature property landscape and a model unit at the sales office. So, we carefully chose the building and unit based on the blueprints presented to us. There are only two buildings that have an easy access to the amenities, one is already sold out and the other one is not yet even built. So we chose the latter. As for the unit, we selected a unit higher than the trees and facing the amenities so we can have a better view of the property. The building has an elevator as per the agent so we don't see any problem with my daughter being on a wheelchair. If I remember it right, I asked our agent about the ramp and other wheelchair access and I think he said DMCI being compliant and everything so we will have no problem with that and then the deal was closed.

We've waited for 18 months until it was turned over to us. We furnished it before we moved in and then we were on cloud nine! We thanked God for this blessing! Really! For more than a year, we were on a honeymoon stage. Enjoying our "Home Sweet Home".

Until some issue arises. After 19 months of living in our unit, I politely requested for a wheelchair ramp for our building.

Hi,

We bought a unit in Melhor bldg, Arista Place thinking amenities and parks are easily accessible. My daughter is a PWD and always on her wheel chair. We are having a hard time going to the park or the pool area using the Melhor bldg access. Either we ask for a guard (or some maintenance guy) to help us lift/ carry through the stair or she'll need to go down to the basement and wheeled around two buildings (which is not always feasible).

Is it possible that we can request a ramp in Melhor building (at least) so she can easily go to the amenities area? This is also for all other residents that are having difficulty accessing the amenity area.

Your positive response is highly appreciated.

Thank you,

But only after 10 months when I got a response from DMCI saying that my request is not feasible:

This pertains with your request for installation of ramp at Melhor Building in Arista Place.

After coordination with the concerned departments, we would like inform you that as much as we want to accommodate your request, we regret to inform you that your request for additional ramp is not feasible.

We truly understand all the rights of all our PWD clients and we are very much willing to extend all the help that we can offer to at least ease the inconvenience that you may encounter.

Prior to the construction of Arista Place, we ensure that all our plans have been checked and approved by the governing entities and that includes the safety also of our PWD clients.

We believe that building a community like Arista Place will not be possible if we violate any rule that is not in accordance with the law.

Please let us know how can we help you and we are very grateful to help you.

Thank you very much for your understanding.

 

And I got another email suggesting that we use the basement parking ramp.

We regret to inform you that your request to install ramp is not feasible. Upon coordination to Property Management of Arista they already inform you that your request is not allowable due to there are already ramp for PWD located at the basement parking and it is the typical design for all the buildings in Arista Place.

Seriously? Use the basement ramp? O yeah! That is what we've been doing since we moved in! And I can assure you that it is hard and definitely not safe. I will dare anyone, who rally that idea, to sit on a wheelchair and wheel himself up to the ingres road. Really? Did they even think about it or at least tried to use the basement ramp?

This is the basement ramp.

Do you see what's wrong with these photos? Yes. There are no railings, right? Based on our personal experience, it's hard to push a person on a wheelchair with that slope. How much more if the person on wheelchair is alone and just wanted to breathe some fresh air around the community? It is also not feasible! Let talk about safety? Is there any signages or safety measures for PWDs. None. What if there's a car?

This is our building entrance from/to the road:

And building entrance from/to the amenities:

See? You need 2-3 people to lift a wheelchair-bound person through those steps.

We already have an accessibility law but is it being implemented?

According to the Magna Carta for Disabled Person or IRR of BP 344, no group of people shall be deprived of full participation and enjoyment of the environment or be made unequal with the rest due to any disability.

1.3 BASIC PHYSICAL PLANNING REQUIREMENTS. No group of people shall be deprived of full participation and enjoyment of the environment or be made unequal with the rest due to any disability. In order to achieve this goal adopted by the United Nations, certain basic principles shall be applied:

1.3.1 ACCESSIBILITY. The built environment shall be designed so that it shall be accessible to all people. This means that no criteria shall impede the use of facilities by either the handicapped or nondisabled citizens.

1.3.2 REACHABILITY. Provisions shall be adapted and introduced to the physical so that as many places or buildings as possible can be reached by all.

1.3.3 USABILITY. The built environment shall be designed so that all persons, whether they be disabled or not, may use and enjoy it.

1.3.4 ORIENTATION. Finding a person's way inside and outside of a building or open space shall be made easy for everyone.

1.3.5 SAFETY. Designing for safety insures that people shall be able to move about with less hazards to life and health.

1.3.6 WORK ABILITY AND EFFICIENCY. The built environment shall be designed to allow the disabled citizens to participate and contribute to developmental goals

(Reference: IRR of BP 344)

 

In spite of everything I put on the table, the law and the inconvenience, we still got a 'NO'. It is so obvious that it is a violation of my daughter's right to have an accessible environment. But what can we do? Instead, we go on with our lives and deal with it.

After a while, some other issues were raised by the other residents. So we brought up our concern about the building ramps and cited the other areas that are not accessible by PWDs as well. These include the Function hall and AVR, being on the second floor of the Clubhouse with no elevator or ramp access. We also mentioned the badminton court, gazeebos and pathways that do not have a ramp. We've communicated everything to our property manager and as far as I know with the BODs but our concerns fell on deaf ears. So we joined the group of unit owners who wanted to take it to the next level. After consolidating all issues, we sought for the intervention of the Paranaque City government. We spoke to our good Mayor Olivares and he immediately sent people to check the property the next day. After the inspection, we waited for months but to no avail. In short, there were no actions made.

So, to answer the question 'Is DMCI a PWD-friendly home?' It is a big NO. Well... not yet but I'm very optimistic that one day, when God permits, DMCI will do the right thing.

Ciao!