DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 09 May) – The Davao City Police Office (DCPO) is recommending the filing of charges against a condominium, where a couple was killed last month, for allegedly violating the city’s CCTV ordinance, an official said.
Under the CCTV ordinance here, establishment owners are required to install upgraded CCTV cameras when renewing their business permits. A fine of P5,000 and closure order await non-compliant establishments.
Captain Hazel Tuazon, DCPO spokesperson, said the Bajada Police Station, headed by Major Marvin Hugos, will submit an official report to the local government unit (LGU) of Davao City that Camella Northpoint Condominium does not have a working CCTV.
“But it is up to them if they will file a case against the condominium,” she said in Cebuano during a press conference Wednesday morning.
To recall, Jeffrey Patac Predas and his girlfriend, Jennifer Delos Santos Chavez, were found dead inside Camella Northpoint Condominium in Bajada here last April 21.
But DCPO investigators failed to obtain video footage since there was no functional CCTV inside the condominium.
Owing to this, the police had to gather testimonies from condominium residents that could lead them to the identities of the suspects, Tuazon said last April 24.
MindaNews contacted for comment Thursday, May 9, Camella Northpoint, but the telephone numbers shown in their website can’t be reached.
Tuazon said the investigation is still ongoing as they wait for the DNA test results, which could help to determine the identities of the suspects.
The DCPO has been looking at “two persons of interest” in the case.
She said that it “would take about a month to get the laboratory results of the blood samples found in the crime scene.”
For her part, the CCTV ordinance proponent, Councilor Luna Acosta, said her team “has now decided to file a case against the condominium, but they still need DCPO’s final statement and recommendation.”
“We are actually ready to file cases against violators of the ordinance. We’re just preparing everything… to show to Dabawenyos how serious we are on implementing the CCTV ordinance,” Acosta said in a press conference Thursday.
Acosta said that she was told the police are prioritizing the investigation on the slay case, including the alleged non-functional CCTV of the condominium. (Ian Carl Espinosa/MindaNews)
