Ecija mayor wants CCTV cameras installed to fight crimes

TALAVERA, Nueva Ecija, Philippines – This town’s mayor has sought the allocation of P2 million for the purchase of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras to arrest the rising tide of crimes and improve the overall peace and order situation here.

In a press briefing, Mayor Nerivi Santos-Martinez said she has requested the municipal council, led by Vice Mayor Anselmo Rodiel III, to earmark the amount for the acquisition of eight CCTV cameras to be installed in strategic places.

Santos-Martinez said the high-definition, wireless surveillance cameras would help immensely in improving the peace and order situation. “With these CCTV cameras, we expect to be able to solve and deter crimes,” she said.

The CCTV cameras, which will be linked to a central monitor, are also expected to advance quick dispatch, rapid response and better coordination by the police, particularly during emergencies; enhance monitoring of crowds, and spot crime suspects.

The P2-million allocation is contained in a P120-million loan application that the municipal government is seeking with the Land Bank of the Philippines to finance its various development projects included in the Annual Investment Plan for 2014. 

Santos-Martinez has asked the municipal council to pass an ordinance authorizing the proposed terms and conditions from the Landbank.

Earlier, the mayor had expressed her dismay over five unsolved killings last month and urged the municipal police chief, Superintendent Reynaldo de la Cruz, to go after the perpetrators.

Among the unsolved killings were those of two vendors whose bodies were found in the public cemetery on Jan. 21, the fatal shooting of a 71-year-old widower on Jan. 18, and the gun slaying of a 62-year-old barangay councilman on Jan. 5.

The municipal government’s plan to acquire CCTV cameras to combat crimes is apart from an earlier proposal of the provincial chapter of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) to set up surveillance cameras in 600 barangays.

In August last year, Peñaranda town Mayor Ferdinand Abesamis, LMP provincial chapter president, said they would work on the proposal starting in his hometown where they were eyeing to set up CCTV cameras in nine barangays.

Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali had also sought the installation of 10 CCTV cameras in strategic locations in the province to keep watch over criminal elements round-the-clock and boost security.