Abalos sees viability of CCTV interconnectivity to fight crime
By Chito Chavez
Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin "Benhur" Abalos Jr. has proposed to interconnect the closed circuit television cameras (CCTV) in various cities and towns to further strengthen the government’s fight against all forms of criminal activities.
Abalos said that he will seek the opinion of the Department of Information and Communications (DICT) to determine the viability of his proposal. The DILG launched a similar program in 2019 dubbed as Safe Philippines Project.
"If I am not mistaken, that Safe Cities is good for around 10,000 CCTVs. Pero ako naman nakikita ko baka redundancy kasi (But for me what I can see is there may be redundancy). You already have enough CCTVs kamukha nang sa Metro Manila. Meron ang Makati, Manila, Mandaluyong, meron lahat (like in Metro Manila). Makati, Manila and Mandaluyong have CCTVs). So why just not interconnect them? And if you have enough money just, you know, buy an app which is artificial intelligence,’’ Abalos said.
Recalling his time as Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman, Abalos stated having solved the perennial traffic congestion in the Balintawak area in Quezon City where the solution is only four CCTVs.
Back then, Abalos said many vendors have occupied the first lane of Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA) that constricted the roadway, thus, causing horrendous traffic jams all the time even in what was supposed to be lean hours.
With four CCTVs focused on Balintawak, Abalos recounted calling the market vendor, MMDA personnel and the police assigned in the area and warning them that he will see to it they get fired from the service if the illegal vendors occupy EDSA again.
"Ganoon kasimple and nasa cell phone ko nakakonekta 'yung camera (It’s that simple. And it is in my cell phone where the camera is connected),’’ he added.
“Ang camera ng Makati magaganda 'yan. Ang camera ng Maynila magaganda 'yan. Sa Quezon City, magaganda 'yan. Interconnect na lang natin (The camera in Makati is topnotch. So as in Manila, Quezon City. We just have to interconnect them),’’ Abalos emphasized.
Abalos banked on the DICT to "guide us on this."