Repair, not probe P22M defective CCTV systems

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Dec 16  (ZNS)  - City Mayor Maria Isabel Climaco has called for repairs, instead of a probe, into a more than P22 million Close Circuit Television Camera (CCTV) project implemented years ago but which has failed to contribute a single bit to the ciry’s drive against crime.

Over a hundred people of have shot and most of the killed in this city this year but the cameras have failed to register these crimes or the escaping gunman on motorcycles.

City Councilors said these CCTVs have either malfunctioned , are defective or below standard to do its required jobs. Councilor Roel Natividad of the council committee on Peace and Order was to start the probe on a committee level to be forwarded later to the Commission on Audit.

Mayor Climaco said it would be “better to fix these cameras,” than to conduct an investigation of a project that is already in place.

These CCTVs was a project of then city mayor and now district I Congressman Celso Lobregat, a partymate of the current mayor.

The system was supposed to include CCTVs installed within a five kilometer radius from City Hall up to the Moret –San Jose Road in the West Coast of the City and up beyond the Santa Cruz Market possibly Guiwan. These cameras are also  supposed to be installed along road intersections and in sensitive areas or vital installations in the city proper.

And since the area of recent conflict, Rio Hondo, Sta. Barbara, Sta. Catalina, Mariki is just about a kilometer from City Hall, CCTVs are also supposed to be installed there. Details on where these CCTVs were installed are not available for security reasons.

Dozens f these cameras were also installed at the city council and at city hall.

City Councilor Juan Kim Elago concluded that” these cameras or most of these are defective. He wants to find out if “what were actually bided out were those  actually installed. “

He said some of the cameras does not work, and for all these years, none of these cameras were able to solve a single crime, because these failed to record crimes in the vicinity.

Council Jawo Jimenez also said that the city did not get the worth of the money paid for the CCTV system in the city.

Cameras are supposed to record everything but police monitoring these cameras have not come up with images of gunmen shooting people in this city and crossing these intersection as they get away from the crime scene.(Felino M Santos)