Big Brother watching MMDA office workers

Visitors and other people with transactions at the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) headquarters in Guadalupe, Makati City, can now keep watch of what goes on in the different offices like the all-seeing “Big Brother.”

MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino on Friday unveiled the agency’s “Transparency Governance Wall,” a widescreen monitor mounted at the headquarters’ lobby showing real-time video recordings of the activity in the various departments.

“This is not to invade (our workers’) privacy but to show the public what happens in a public service office,” Tolentino said in Filipino at the opening rites. “We want the general public to know that all our officials and personnel are performing their duties in an open manner.”

In a statement, Tolentino said the project was all about “transparent governance and accountability” and in line with “our anticorruption efforts.”

Located near the main building’s elevators, the screen shows live feeds from 48 closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed at the various sections of the agency, like the Traffic Engineering Center, Traffic Adjudication Division, Traffic Discipline Office and the Office of the Chairman.

The new project comes on the heels of another high-tech innovation at the MMDA, namely the “Traffic Mirror” which provides live video feeds of the traffic situation in major roads around Metro Manila, which can by viewed by the public online at https://mmda.nowplanet.tv. Jaymee T. Gamil