An official of the Regional Cyber Crime Unit (RACU 11) is urging local government units (LGUs) in the Davao Region to pass an ordinance compelling business establishments to provide copies of CCTV footages to immediately solve crimes.
Colonel Ricky Punzalan, regional chief of RACU 11, said among the problems of the unit is the establishments are invoking the Data Privacy Act whenever they request a copy of their CCTV footage.
He said this hinders them from solving the crime immediately.
“The problem is they are invoking the Data Privacy Act yun ang nagiging hadlang para ma-solve agad namin ang krimen. Imagine, if you are requesting this establishment to provide us a copy of the CCTV video to solve a crime it would take two weeks bago nila ma-provide sa amin, eh nakatakbo na yung kriminal. I’m urging or requesting na sana yung mga ordinance to compel this establishments to provide us immediately the copy of the CCTV footage specially when there is a crime involved,” Punzalan said during the AFP PNP Press Corps media briefing on Wednesday.
Punzalan is appealing to the owners of the establishments particularly those who have CCTV installed in the area to voluntarily provide RACU a copy to help solve the crime.
“Bakit ko sinasabi ito? Yung business estbalishment meron silang kliyente sinasabi ko na service oriented ang nature ng kanilang business which mean kailangan immediately they will provide us a copy for the interest of the clients. Umaapela kami sa mga establishments na kung sino man yung may CCTV sa area na voluntary nilang ibigay to solve the crime,” he said.
One of RACU’s mandates is to conduct cyber patrolling. Punzalan said RACU is doing it regularly to detect possible threats in Davao City in coordination with the Davao City Police Office (DCPO), Task Force Davao, and other law enforcement agencies.
“Kailangan mapanatili natin na tahimik ang Davao. Isa sa mga mandatu ng RACU is to conduct cyber patrolling. If ever na maka detect kami ng bomb joke we take it seriously and immediately inform other enforcement agencies,” he said.
