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More CCTV cameras to be installed in Metro - PNP


The National Police announced Friday that more cameras will be installed all over Metro Manila, even as its spokesman assured the public that the installation is aimed at monitoring traffic and crimes in the metropolis. In a statement, Senior Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome said a total of 56 cameras will be installed in key points in Metro Manila, 26 of which, including the one in front of La Salle Greenhills in Mandaluyong City, are already working since the project was launched last year in time for the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) meeting in Manila. "Our people in Metro Manila need not be afraid of these CCTV (close-circuit television) cameras but rather feel safer that with them, our children are far more secured in our streets and other public places," Bartolome said. Bartolome issued the appeal as PNP chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr assured that the cameras "will not be used to spy on anyone." The project was officially launched in October last year at the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) headquarters in Bicutan, Taguig City wherein no less than Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in-charge for the National Capital Region Wilhelm Soriano assured that the use of the CCTV cameras on the streets "is not an invasion to rights to privacy because there is no compulsion." NCRPO chief Director Geary Barias announced then that some of the areas with cameras are the Sandiganbayan area in Quezon City, EDSA Magallanes in Makati City, EDSA-Ortigas in Mandaluyong City, EDSA-Ayala Avenue in Makati City, and Mendiola in Manila. The video footage captured go to the Central Command Center of the NCRPO, and then transmitted to the Command Center at the PNP National Headquarters in Camp Crame. For the same purpose, the PNP recently entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the Metro Manila Development Authority for data sharing of videos, Bartolome said. He also encouraged private business establishments "to set up their own CCTV security cameras in their respective areas to help in crime prevention and monitoring." At the same time, Bartolome clarified that the reported camera installed in front of the St. Scholastica's College in Manila "is not a PNP CCTV camera, but rather a photo-sensor device that is used to automatically switch off lights during the daytime." A nun executive of the school had complained on Thursday that they felt being monitored by authorities because of the setting up of the suspected CCTV camera similar to the one at La Salle Greenhills. The installation of the camera at La Salle Greenhills sparked skepticisms against its supposed purpose of monitoring traffic because it was done days before an anti-Arroyo mass was held there last Sunday. - GMANews.TV

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