Mobile alarm remote system: Priority are banks and big firms says Tom O

While the city council scrapped the prioritization provision in the newly approved ordinance covering the establishment of the Mobile Alarm Remote System in the city, Mayor Tomas Osmeña is determined to make a distinction when dispatching policemen to respond to simultaneous alarms raised by its subscribers.

"I will make a distinction. They can sue if they want. Suppose Central Bank and a sari-sari store are being robbed simultaneously, according to them (council) we should give equal importance to the two. Are you nuts?" Osmeña told reporters yesterday.

And because implementation of the said enacted ordinance is already an executive function, the mayor said the city council this time could no longer encroach or intervene on how he should go about with the enforcement of the said measure.

During the final deliberation of the said proposed measure in last Wednesday's regular session, the city council replaced the classifications from "first level priority subscribers" to Category A subscribers - referring to banks and other financial establishments - and from "second level priority subscribers" to Category B, which refers to individuals and non-sensitive establishments.

Apparently, this is not what the mayor wanted to be in place, as he already explained in his previous news conferences that priority should be given to big financial establishments should there be simultaneous alarms.

"It's not for them to decide. Anyway, let them believe they can decide for that. Unless you try something, we'll never know if it works or not. But it's important for subscribers to know that there's a risk," he said.

The city council incorporated major amendments in the original proposed ordinance filed by Councilor Augustus "Jun" Pe, Jr. on apprehensions that there might be some backlash in its implementation if there is going to be distinction in the response of policemen and other law enforcement units to an alarm.

"I'm not afraid of failure," he said.

The mayor wanted the establishment of a high-tech alarm system to combat criminality in the city, especially against robbery. - Cristina C. Birondo