MANILA, Philippines — The San Juan City government is now requiring business establishments primarily handling financial transactions to equip themselves with security cameras and other surveillance systems before the end of the year. City ordinance 7, series of 2013, mandates business establishments, specifically banks, pawnshops, money changers, convenience stores, gasoline stations, money transfer centers, bills payment centers and supermarkets, to operate video surveillance and monitoring systems not just inside their stores, but also in the vicinity of their operation. The ordinance, enacted by the San Juan City Council and approved by Mayor Guia Gomez earlier this year, notes that “incidents of robberies and burglaries have recently been hogging the news and have even resulted to the loss of innocent lives.” The ordinance also said that these crimes could somehow be prevented by surveillance and monitoring systems installed in businesses, which would make it easy for the police to monitor events and investigate crimes. The ordinance compels these business establishments to install not only plain security or closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, but also equipment which would allow the storage of camera footage, transmission of footage to remote video monitoring stations, and the triggering of alarms for violations of security rules. “The daily video recordings must be stored and preserved for a minimum period of at least 30 days for review purposes and reference unless its preservation is required by a court order, by the police, or the city mayor,” the ordinance read. Authorized local authorities and the police should also […]

Source m.inquirer.net