PASIG CITY -- A stricter implementation of closed-circuit television (CCTV) ordinance for business establishments is encouraged all over the country not only as a deterrent to crime but a source of information for the solution of a crime.
In the two-day seminar for Children’s Rights, Manila assistant city prosecutor Rey Inciong who heads the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (Iacat) said mandating private business owners to have CCTV monitors which can provide necessary footages of crimes especially against children and even trafficking of persons through local legislation would ensure faster law enforcement procedures.
“If there is still no law requiring or obligating an operator of CCTV monitor to hand over footage if required by law enforcement for a lawful purpose then there should be a law because what happens is, there are times when law enforcement is stifled wherein effective law enforcement is stopped because private industries do not want to share CCTV which is most evident in businesses,” Inciong said.
In 2017, CCTVs have been mandatory in establishments under City Council Ordinance No. 11 series of 2017 “mandatorily requiring business establishments to install CCTV cameras, video recorders and monitors for security purposes.”
“Like what they are doing in Quezon City, the law is a requirement for business permits so if you want to have a business permit, you have to put a CCTV, although I’m just not sure if there is a penalty if you do not provide the footage upon request. The problem we see here is that most CCTV systems are big, they are cumbersome and require a lot of data storage and to say that you have to store 30 days of footage is kind of prohibitive and unreasonable so again, it’s up to the local council to craft how to make workable without being oppressive,” the assistant city prosecutor said.