SAFETY & SECURITY

Safety and security are paramount concerns in any community, and especially so in a high-profile commercial and residential center such as the Makati CBD, with an illustrious name to protect and a rich promise to deliver.

With the extension to 24/7of the operating hours of the seven underpasses in the district, the need for greater security has become more pronounced. This called for the installation of CCTV cameras—40 in all—that capture movements and activities in the underpasses. The images caught by the cameras are transmitted in real time to monitors at the MaCEA operations center, where they are recorded and filed, for use in the profiling of subjects.

The Association has recently acquired a brand-new pick-up that serves as a deterrent force and first responder in cases of emergency. Manned by two Red Cross-certified first responders, the van is equipped with tools for first aid—an oxygen tank, a blood pressure monitoring machine, a stretcher, and a complete first aid kit.

Colored red, with the MaCEA logo and vanity phone number emblazoned on both sides, the pickup operates in two 12-hour shifts and weaves in and out of streets day and night, ready to respond to emergency situations, its presence alone serving as a deterrent to wrongdoing.

With a number of structures being torn down and new ones rising from the ground up, 
developers are constantly reminded of MaCEA-established policy and rules on safety in construction sites, such as the use of prescribed safety nets and keeping sidewalks open and unobstructed—to ensure self-enforcement of best construction practices and avoid accidents.

As a matter of routine, day-to-day security demands are served by roving guards who patrol the parks, car parks, underpasses and the elevated walkway on foot and by mobile guards who go around the district on motorbikes.