The Quezon City government is giving all establishment owners a six-month period to comply with the city-required installation of closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV) in their premises or face non-renewal of their business permit.
Mayor Herbert Bautista directed business permit and licensing office (BPLO) chief Pacifico Maghacot to implement a no-CCTV no- business permit policy starting next year.
Bautista’s order is in line with the city’s peace and order campaign particularly in minimizing crime incidence, especially carnapping and kidnapping cases.
The Mayor asked Maghacot to give priority, in the implementation of CCTV, to all high-risk establishments such as car dealership stores, both high-end and trade-ins, as well as schools, convenience stores, gasoline stations and banks.
Bautista said that the adoption of the new policy will make CCTV installation a pre-requisite when applying or renewing business permit in the city starting January 2012.
However, the chief executive said that starting August, BPLO will conduct inspections in establishments which were given business permits this year to check on their compliance with the CCTV requirement.
“We will strictly implement the new policy on CCTV. No CCTV installation, no business permit,” the Mayor said.
Aside from high-risk establishment, Bautista had earlier called the city’s 142 barangays to also set-up CCTV cameras in different areas of responsibility and use their calamity fund for this purpose.
The mayor has vowed to install CCTV cameras over the next three years along strategic areas in the city, including densely-populated communities, to further improve the city’s crime resolution and efficiency rate.
He said that CCTV will be a great help in improving the city’s road networks, particularly entry and exit points and in assisting the police in its peace keeping efforts. -30- Maureen Quinones, PAISO
