Firms, brgys urged to install cameras

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council is urging all establishments and barangays to install closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras to help deter criminalities in the city and to assist authorities in their investigations.

 Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, for his part, said tapping different establishments in the city is a “very good idea.”

 The mayor himself has written letters to some 30,000 business establishments in the city, urging them to install CCTV cameras in preparation for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in 2015 and the Eucharistic Congress in 2016.

 â€œI wish all will be in one direction. We can’t afford to hear yet again incidents, like the ambush of Atty. (Noel) Archival,” he told reporters. Archival, together with his two companions, were ambushed in Barangay Coro in Dalaguete town Tuesday by unidentified gunmen.

 Councilor Dave Tumulak, chairperson of CCDRRMC, said CCTV cameras have a vital role in solving crimes, mostly robbery, rape, murder and kidnappings, and in securing the general welfare of the public.

 For instance, he said the Command Central Center (C3) in Barangay Mambaling was able to monitor the road accident last Feb.19 along Escario Street near Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Capitol Parish, where 76-year-old-lawyer Norma Torres Garciano was hit by a Mitsubishi Strada driven by a call center agent Janet Silay Yamyamin.

 Tumulak said the CCDRRMC is encouraging all establishments like malls, banks, stores and barangays to install CCTV cameras, while the C3, city’s pilot response team, will provide manpower for monitoring.

This would happen, he said, if the owner of the establishment will press the connect button of their CCTVs. The C3 will be able to access and monitor the cameras.

The city government will charge P500 a year to those establishments that would avail of the said service. The amount will be collected during the renewal of their business permits.

This second quarter, Tumulak said he will pass a measure acquiring additional 20 CCTV cameras worth P20 million to augment last year’s 30 cameras amounting to P15 million, 15 of which were installed in different major intersections from Barangay Mambling to Barangay Banilad, this city.

Barangays Quiot, Inayawan and Ermita have already expressed their intentions to purchase CCTV cameras.

The necessity of installing CCTV camera is in accordance with “CCTV Ordinance of Cebu City,” requiring all business establishments and residential subdivisions and condominiums operating in Cebu City, including  banks, money changers, lending institutions, pawnshops, gas stations, internet shops, private schools, privately-owned wet and dry markets, hotels, motels, inns, travel agencies, coffee shops, junk shops, terminals, and retail establishments with an annual gross sales of not less than P5 million, to install cameras.

 The ordinance’s scope also includes shopping malls, privately-owned paid parking lots, entrance/exit gates of residential subdivisions and condominiums, and private hospitals.  (FREEMAN)