Candid camera

WHEN THE new year comes around, Quezon City will become the first city to implement a “No CCTV, no business permit” policy in the country. Mayor Herbert Bautista said he had instructed the Business Permit and Licensing Office to remind business owners of the city ordinance passed last April requiring businesses to install closed-circuit television systems before applying for or renewing their permits. The establishments he mentioned in particular were pawnshops, gasoline stations, convenience stores, banks, malls, supermarkets and schools. City Hall itself will start installing its own CCTV system next year. This is apart from the procurement of P100 million worth of security cameras to be installed on major and secondary streets in the city’s 142 barangays, the mayor said.

Even the Catholic Church in Quezon City is installing CCTV systems. According to Bishop Honesto Ongtioco of the Diocese of Cubao (there are two big dioceses in the city, the other one being Novaliches), the parishes under his jurisdiction have begun installing CCTV cameras to deter thieves from preying on the faithful or from stealing antique religious icons and even church bells.

The twin moves indicate not only how the Orwellian Big Brother has impinged on both secular and sacred realms but also how CCTV cameras, especially in public places, have become a necessity in this era of heightened security. We suspect that even without the ordinance, Quezon City businesses and residents, just like the Catholic Church, would find the security measure appropriate, even imperative.

Bishop Ongtioco in fact frowns on the ordinance, not exactly because of its coercive dimensions, but because it may make businesses more expensive ventures. The cost of installing a CCTV system ranges from P15,000 to as much as P30,000, depending on the coverage of the surveillance area. The price also depends on the resolution of the security camera and other settings. “It’s a good measure,” the prelate said, “but then the important question is: Can everyone afford it, especially those with small businesses?”

But heightened security appears to be an increasing concern in Metro Manila. Mayor John Reynald Tiangco of Navotas said the city had installed 20 CCTV cameras on major thoroughfares and allocated some P12 million for the purchase of 18 more cameras to cover more vital areas. He said Navotas’ CCTV camera network had been of significant importance not only in keeping peace and order and in tracking down criminals but also in traffic management.

In Congress, Sen. Manuel Lapid has filed a bill requiring commercial establishments with work areas measuring at least 50 square meters to install and maintain CCTVs in strategic areas. Last month, Philippine National Police Director General Nicanor Bartolome said that at the next meeting of the National Peace and Order Council, he would propose that business establishments be required to install CCTVs. “This is just a small investment on the part of business operators that will eventually translate to higher returns as losses due to crime are diminished,” he said.

But is Bartolome being oblivious to the idea that the growing trend among businesses and residents to install their own CCTV systems reflects on the police’s poor public confidence ratings? The fact that he himself has announced he would propose the adoption of the Quezon City initiative on a nationwide scale appears to be an acknowledgement of the police’s failure to guarantee public safety and order.

One would think that after the international humiliation caused by the botched police rescue of hostages at the Luneta in 2010, the PNP would try to redeem itself by redoubling efforts to check or solve crimes. But the numbers are not encouraging. Crime has multiplied exponentially since then. Records from the National Capital Region Police Office show that 29,231 crimes were reported in Metro Manila during the first half of 2012—a figure 57 percent higher than the 18,671 crimes recorded during the same period in 2011. It’s quite dismaying that a PNP spokesperson was reported as having attributed the crime wave to “smarter” criminals. What is that but an unwitting but candid admission of PNP incompetence?