MANILA, Philippines ? With 42 flat-screen television sets hooked up to cameras in at least four cities, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Thursday launched a state-of-the-art command center to monitor security in Metro Manila?and hopefully thwart criminals planning big-time heists.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo led the inauguration of the Regional Tactical Operation and Intelligence Center (RTOIC) in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City, which will serve as the main monitoring center and dispatch hub of all police operations in the metropolis.

The P60-million facility, a project of NCRPO chief, Director Roberto Rosales, boasts 42 40-inch large format display monitors showing video feeds from closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed in selected areas.

?It was designed to raise the bar of our fighting capability against crime, terrorism and insurgency,? said Rosales.

He added that the NCRPO did not spend a cent for the project, which was funded by sponsors led by Ms Arroyo, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Jesus Verzosa, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, and private businessmen like Manny V. Pangilinan.

Most of the donors gave in kind to pave the way for the completion of the project which began in July, he said.

?It will really help us in fighting crime, monitoring what?s happening around [us] and also coordinating different significant activities,? Verzosa told reporters.

The RTOIC is a first for the PNP, whose headquarters in Camp Crame is not yet equipped with advanced technological gadgets. The center will be manned by about 15 people round-the-clock.

Using wireless technology, existing cameras in Manila, Taguig, Parañaque and Pasig were hooked up to the command center. The NCRPO said it was also hoping to integrate into the network the CCTV cameras of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and other local governments.

?We can monitor about 2,000 CCTVs in Metro Manila. We are inviting not only the local government units to put up their respective CCTVs but big business owners such as the mall owners,? Rosales said.

?Now, we will have more eyes to monitor these CCTVs in Metro Manila,? he added.

The facility can also handle six months of video data and two years of backup, which can serve as a database for strategic planning.

Rosales said the RTOIC was a spin-off of the highly advanced command center at the Manila Police District which he also spearheaded during his term as MPD chief.

?The MPD ranked No. 1 in crime incidents before. But we reduced it by leaps and bounds since we put up our command center,? he said.

The highly integrated system, said Rosales, not only monitors crime-prone areas, busy intersections, tourist spots and commercial centers, but also police mobile cars equipped with a global positioning system (GPS).

Though only the MPD and Marikina police have GPS-equipped mobile cars at the moment, Rosales said Verzosa promised to allocate P33 million for the purchase of more GPS units.