Ermita asks City to fund spy cams or Carbon market

CEBU, Philippines - Barangay Ermita is asking the Cebu City government to contribute P1 million for surveillance cameras in exchange for being the “host” of a power plant operated by Cebu Private Power  Corporation.

Ermita officials requested the City Council to allow the use of the money in  the purchase of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras for their barangay.

In a resolution, Barangay Captain Antonieto Flores and Ermita’s councilors explained that installation of CCTV cameras is necessary because of the presence of the Carbon Public Market in their place.

Lots of people regularly flock the market, the place is a magnet for lawless elements preying on customers.  Having the cameras would make robbers think twice victimizing people in the market.

“Being a  host barangay and a part and parcel of Cebu City, it is also reasonable (for Ermita) to benefit from the projects of E.R. 1-94, specifically that the project shall help solve the problems on criminality, traffic, sanitation and many others through the installation of CCTV cameras,” Ermita’s officials said.

Pursuant to Cebu City’s Energy Regulation (ER) 1-94, as amended by Section 66 of Republic Act 9136, “Barangay Ermita, being the ‘host barangay’, has a prescribed sharing scheme both the host barangay and host City (Cebu City) who shall receive a share from one-centavo per kilowatt hour of power plant production.”

The P1 million Ermita is asking would be charged from City’s share under ER 1-94’s development and livelihood fund (DLF). —/RHM (FREEMAN)