Barias admits PNP men tried to install CCTV at Senate

MANILA, Philippines – The two men who tried to install close-circuit television cameras near the Senate premises in Pasay City last week were indeed from the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Metro Manila police commander Director Geary Barias said yesterday he had sent two personnel from Comworks, a firm hired by the PNP, to put up the cameras as part of the PNP’s anti-crime campaign.

“It was during the planning when Special Action Force director Chief Superintendent Leocadio Santiago Jr. suggested that one CCTV unit should be installed in an intersection near but outside the Senate premises,” he said in a telephone interview.

Barias said installing a CCTV camera near Senate premises had been proposed as early as October, although the latest timing was “somehow suspicious.”

He had sent a letter to Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. explaining the incident, he added.

Barias said the plan to put up cameras in strategic points in Metro Manila was drafted after PNP chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr. assumed office last year.

“There was an apparent misunderstanding in the incident over the weekend,” he said.

“The personnel we sent to install the CCTV near the Senate premises failed to see Senate sergeant-at-arms retired Maj. Gen. Jose Baladjadia to explain their purpose, that’s why our senators thought the police have started monitoring them.”

Earlier, Razon had denied that the police planned to install CCTV cameras near the Senate premises.

“We have not sought permission to install CCTV at the Senate, that’s not true,” he said. “They should not be afraid of police protection.”

Security within Senate premises is undertaken by the Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms in coordination with a Special Action Force contingent, he added.

He has ordered a thorough investigation into the incident to identify who were the two men and who sent them to the Senate, Razon said.

PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome said more CCTV cameras will be put up at strategic points in Metro Manila after the National Capital Region Police Office launched an anti-crime project last Oct. 10.

Razon assured that CCTV cameras are “mainly for traffic monitoring and anti-crime monitoring only and will not be used to spy on anyone.”