ILOILO City – No organized crime groups were targeting call center agents, the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) assured business process outsourcing (BPO) companies.
“Isolated” was how Senior Superintendent Henry Biñas, city police director, described recent robbery incidents that left two call center agents shaken in the districts of Jaro and Mandurriao.
BPO and ICPO officials discussed the security concerns of night shift workers at city hall yesterday.
There were 52 BPO companies in this city, data from the Local Economic Investment and Promotions Office showed. These were mostly located at the Iloilo Business Park in Mandurriao.
BPO companies agreed to submit work shift schedules of their employees to the city police.
The ICPO would come up with a deployment plan to synchronize with the work shifts.
The goal, according to Biñas, was to maximize police visibility during periods that night shift call center agents either leave or report to their offices.
“We have nightly deployment of policemen such as at Smallville Complex. Unfortunately, we cannot cover all nooks and crannies of the city. We need data from the BPOs so we could adjust our deployment schedule, too,” said Biñas.
Smallville Complex is a popular strip of restaurants, bars, discotheques, and hotels in Barangay San Rafael, Mandurriao.
Meanwhile, between eight to 10 policemen were securing the Iloilo Business Park, said Biñas.
The two recent robberies were isolated cases, according to the city police director.
Since September 2017 when he was assigned at the ICPO, Biñas said these were the only robbery cases involving call center agents.
One of the suspects had been identified already, added Biñas.
On June 23, Sofia Camille Gabo, a 24-year-old call center agent, was walking home when two men riding on a motorcycle robbed and stabbed her in Barangay Sambag, Jaro.
Gabo sustained a wound on the face and lost her wallet, automated teller machine card and mobile phone.
The men hurriedly left after the robbery.
A day before the attack on Gabo, a call center agent was robbed on Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. Avenue (formerly Diversion Road) in Mandurriao. The victim lost P18,000 and other personal belongings to two robbers who were also driving a motorcycle.
Biñas, however, said there were no organized crime groups specializing on call center agents or any other night shift workers.
Still, he proposed another security measure – the use of high-resolution security cameras.
Regulation Ordinance No. 2011- 307 requires establishments to have closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras.
Biñas, however, said some establishments’ CCTVs were not good enough to clearly capture video footages.
The ordinance must be amended to make the use of high-resolution CCTVs a must, he stressed.
Clear CCTV footages of crimes could help the police solve crimes faster and also discourage criminals from striking, said Biñas.
He urged business establishments to also invest in their own security./PN
