BAGUIO CITY – The city government needs at least P200 million for the establishment of an integrated command center to address peacekeeping, disaster response and traffic management in the city.
Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong formally submitted to ranking Department of Interior and the Local Government (DILG) officials the plans and specifications of the city’s priority projects funded from the Office of the President.
The integrated command center will be based at the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) building integrating the current operation of the closed-circuit television (CCTV) project of the city government aside from focusing on disaster risk reduction, peace and order and traffic management.
The city chief executive pointed out that the submission of the plans and specifications of the city’s integrated command center project is in compliance to the marching orders he got from President Rodrigo R. Duterte that the Chief Executive will provide the funds for the noble project of the present administration.
Initially, the technical staff from concerned government agencies went around the city recently to identify the site where the integrated command center can be established and it was ascertained that the most feasible site for this is at the CDRRMO located at the City Engineering office compound in Lower Rock Quarry.
The city mayor underscored that with the putting in place of the integrated command center equipped with the state-of-the-art units of equipment and gadgets, efficient and effective disaster risk reduction and management, peacekeeping and traffic management could be realized in the different parts of the city as real time monitoring will be done, and convergence actions can come from the appropriate offices of the city government needed to respond to such prevailing situation.
Based on a recent order from the city mayor, the operation of the city government’s multi-million CCTV project was taken over by the technical personnel of the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) in preparation for its eventual turnover to the management of the integrated command center once the same will be established and becomes operational.
The plans and specifications of the city’s integrated command center was prepared by the private partner of the city government to ensure the speedy compliance of the city to the directive from the President to immediately submit the same the soonest for the funding to realize the state-of-the-art information communication technology project in the city.
Magalong appealed to the residents for utmost understanding on the challenges being encountered by the city government in the smooth implementation of the present administration’s 15-point collective agenda as everything is being done by the concerned offices of the city to address problems that hinder the realization of the programmed programs, projects and activities for the general welfare of the public.
The integrated command center project is being done in close coordination with the DILG, the Office of the President and the Department of Information and Communication Technology. By Dexter A. See