Cebu City prides itself in having a Command Control Center (C3), equipped to respond to an emergency.
Staffers monitor video screens showing live feeds from 30 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed along the city’s major thoroughfares. They watch out for any signs of trouble as well as traffic situations and violators.
This is part of the city government’s anti-crime strategies, one it spent millions of pesos to install, to make it easier for law enforcers to identify perpetrators of crimes.
How then does one explain the footdragging of City Hall in releasing valuable video footage of an unconscionable theft?
When Councilor Nida Cabrera delivered a privilege speech in the City Council to denounce the sudden “disappearance” of over 80 trees along the center island of S. Osmeña Road last April 1, she wanted answers. Who took the trees? Who dared uproot them just days after the celebration of Earth Day ? Where are the fire trees the city had carefully planted over the past seven years?
Councilor Dave Tumulak, who heads the C3, provided the answer.
He said he immediately pored for footage of CCTV cameras at the site. He told reporters a backhoe of WT Construction was recorded hauling trees from what used to be the center island and loading them on dump trucks from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. daily for the past week.
“The video speaks for itself,” he said.
“WT shouldn’t dodge responsibility for this because it’s clear in the CCTV camera that they removed the trees.”
A week later, the indignation and candor of city officials have all but evaporated.
Now Tumulak is talking about “protocols” and requiring a court order before he can release the video to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 7 for its inquiry because there are “security concerns” to consider.
He speaks as if external pressure and a lawyer’s chastisement got the better of him.
Even Mayor Michael Rama, who prides himself in being a champion for a “livable” city that is properly planned with a balanced respect for Nature’s benefits and urban growth, has been unusually quiet.
Why so?
The DENR investigation has led to an awkward situation for three government entities.
With City Hall’s reluctance — or refusal — to release a copy of the security camera video to the DENR’s legitimate inquiry into the possible theft of city government property, what is the public left to conclude?
People can only wonder why City Hall is treating the contractor WT Construction with kid gloves and letting the Dept. of Public Works and Highways off the hook so easily.
As time passes and the fate of the missing trees heads to oblivion as flitches of firewood, the public must demand that public officiasl be transparent and do their duty.
If they can’t do it voluntarily, let the truth come out in court with the filing of charges to hold private and public officials accountable for this unconscionable loss of green assets for Cebu City.
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