- CHERYL G. CRUZ
The Sangguniang Panlungsod of Bacolod is urging Mayor Alfredo Benitez to hire agency-trained and armed security guards, and to put up metal detectors in all entrance doors of the Government Center.
The SP passed a resolution authored by Councilor Em Legaspi Ang, with councilors Cindy Rojas, Israel Salanga, Renecito Novero, Lady Gles Pallen, and Ayesha Joy Villaflor as co-proponents, on the need to secure the Bacolod City Government Center (BCGC) and its premises.
The proponents said that while government buildings need to remain open to serve constituents, public access can threaten security and even the smallest security breach can have lasting effects on a local government’s reputation and the community it serves.
The councilors said the BCGC is being visited by hundreds of citizens and employs thousands of employees who work in the building every day; and top-ranking city officials, elected or appointed, go there almost every day as part of their duties and responsibilities in managing the operations of the City Government.
“It is necessary for the City Government to assign armed security guards to secure the premises of BCGC, safeguarding all equipment, articles, documents and any other government property from damage,” the resolution said.
This is also to prevent any untoward incident from happening where people, who want to do violence, may enter the building, it added.
During the SP regular session when her proposal was taken up, Ang took note of the recent shooting inside the Ateneo de Manila University, where three people, including a former mayor, were killed./CGC
