Cebu City to set up ‘public address system TVs’ in barangays

Lawyer Gerry Carillo, chairperson of the Disaster Council | via FB Live screenshot

CEBU CITY, Philippines — LED television sets will be launched in various mountain barangays in Cebu City on February 20, 2022. 

The first batch will be 30 LED TVs to be set up in strategic areas. 

These LED TVs will become a public address system for the city government in preparation for future disasters. 

Lawyer Gerry Carillo, City Disaster Council chairperson, said that after Typhoon Odette, they had found difficulties in reaching and communicating with the mountain barangays badly affected by the typhoon. 

Response was significantly slower for the 31 mountain barangays in Cebu City as compared to the urban barangays. 

“After Odette, atong repeater sa Busay, Babag, Mabini, ug Agsungot naguba so nacut off ang connectivity. Down atong antenna, down sad atong power,” he said.

(After Odette, our repeater in Busay, Babag, Mabini and Agsungot was damaged so our connectivity was cut off. Our antenna was down and our power was also down.)

“Nagpropose tag connectivity to all barangays. Each barangay adunay incident command posts nga moconnect sa atoa sa CDRRMO (City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office) basta naay incident,” said Carillo. 

(We proposed to have connectivity to all barangays. Each barangay will have incident posts that will connect to our CDRRMO (City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office) if there is any incident.)

Part of the setting of up of these incident command posts in Cebu City, are the putting up of a public address system that can hopefully withstand future disasters such as Typhoon Odette. 

LED TVs, that serve as an early warning system, will be set up in 100 sites all over the city in all 80 barangays so any warnings can immediately reach the barangays and alert the residents. 

“The mayor can address directly to the residence through data connection. The city can actually keep the people informed even on a daily basis. We are planning run this from 6 a.m, to 10 p.m.,” said Carillo. 

A giant LED screen will also be placed at the Fuente Osmeña Circle so that workers, travellers, and residents in the uptown Cebu City will see the warnings when they come. 

This should allow residents to prepare for incoming disasters. 

On ordinary days, the TVs will show programs and messages from the city government about announcements and services. It will be run by the Public Information Office. 

To the public address system in Cebu City mountain barangays, Carillo said the city was developing a new type of data connection. 

“Dunay communication nga up to 11G. If the city can purchase, we will reach as far as Lusaran in the north and Buot in the South. It will be beamed from Abellana covering 22 mountain barangays and will connect us effectively through the internet,” said Carillo. 

(There is an communication which is up to 11G. If the city can purchase this, we will reach as far as Lusaran in the north and Buot in the south. It will be beamed from Abellana covering 22 mountain barangays and will connect us effectively through the internet.)

They expect the development of this internet connection system to be completed by mid-March of this year. 

For the meantime, the LED TVs will be connected to the usual internet services since many telecommunication companies (telcos) have restored service to many areas. 

Carillo said these public address system can bridge the communication gap between the Cebu City government and the residents in times of disasters.

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