
TACLOBAN CITY – Police units across Eastern Visayas have received 54 new body-worn cameras, equipped with live-streaming capability, as part of the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) drive to enhance transparency, accountability, and real-time response during operations.
The distribution was led by Police Regional Office 8 (PRO-8) Director, Brigadier General Jay Cumigad, who reminded units to use the cameras strictly as intended—to document law enforcement activities and bolster public trust.
“These bodycams will show the real-time response of our PNP personnel on the ground,” Cumigad said in a media interview on Wednesday, July 16. “They are aligned with the five-minute response directive of our Chief PNP, General Nicolas Torre III.”
The five-minute response initiative is a flagship program of Torre which mandates police units to arrive at the scene of a crime or emergency within five minutes of being alerted. It aims to improve public safety outcomes by reducing response time, aided by advanced technology, enhanced mobility, and better coordination across units.
The use of live-streaming bodycams supports this initiative by allowing regional and national command centers to monitor incidents in real time, assess risks, and direct timely intervention.
The newly issued units are an upgrade over the previous batch of 100 bodycams earlier distributed to city, provincial, and municipal police offices. Unlike earlier models, these new devices support live video streaming, allowing commanders at regional and national levels to monitor critical operations as they happen.
Cumigad emphasized that beyond fast response times, the use of bodycams is also about ensuring lawful, ethical, and verifiable policing, especially amid concerns about human rights and alleged abuses in past operations.
The 54 new bodycams were distributed to the following units: 16 units to Ormoc City Police Office (CPO); 10 to Tacloban CPO; five units each to Leyte Provincial Police Office (PPO), Southern Leyte PPO, Samar PPO, and Eastern Samar PPO; three units each to Northern Samar PPO and Biliran PPO; and two units to the Regional Headquarters
Each bodycam comes with its own SIM card slot, internet connectivity, 4G high-definition video capability, and a battery that lasts up to five hours.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)