Traffic congeals at the main gate of Clark Freeport amid the re-imposed policy of the CDC to separate gates for vehicles with or without its stickers.
Photo by Ding Cervantes
CLARK FREEPORT – Big Brother is finally descending upon this freeport and, far yet from invading privacies, is likely to be a welcome security development.
Clark Development Corp. (CDC) Vice President for Operations Frank Madlangbayan said in an interview that initially six closed circuit television (CCTV) monitoring cameras would be installed in important sections of this freeport, as he noted they would be special cameras.
“The cameras would not only relay to a center and capture video footages, but also be able to zoom in the captured images clearly,” he said.
Madlangbayan said that bidding is ending for the project which would initially cost P10 million. So far, the Philippine Long Distance Co. and CCTV of the Uy brothers have expressed interest to bid.
“Eventually, we will have more monitoring cameras installed at Clark as more investments pour in,” he said.
Madlangbayan said he expected the initial cameras to be functioning by the end of this year or early 2014. He said the bidding process itself would require about three months.
He noted that part of the project would be a monitoring center where television screens would show actual happenings being monitored by the cameras outdoors.
The move to install such cameras in this freeport, covering over 4,000 hectares including an aviation complex housing the Clark International Airport, was apparently pushed by growing security concerns.
Madlangbayan said that with the installation of monitoring cameras, there would no longer be a need to require stickers on some vehicles for monitoring at the gates of this freeport, particularly at the main gate in Angeles City.
The recently re-imposed policy of the CDC to separate egress and ingress for vehicles with or without CDC stickers at the Angeles gate has been a subject of irritation among motorists who have questioned its logic, amid reports that virtually anybody could readily acquire stickers costing P200 each from the CDC security department.
The sticker policy has often caused traffic at the main gate, amid complaints that expensive-looking sports utility vehicles even without stickers readily pass through the “with-stickers-only” gate amid the apparent reluctance of security men to confront them.
A member of the Clark Investors and Locators Association (CILA) who asked not to be named as condition for speaking out, noted that “since it’s easy to get a sticker, the policy only enhances the capability of criminals to get into and outside Clark with more ease provided by such sticker.”
