San Antonio to be the first 'Smart Barangay' in Pasig

It's not unknown to many that this barangay in Pasig City is the richest among others.

One of Pasig City’s more “affluent” villages is embarking on a new initiative to make use of the latest information and communication technologies to gradually become one of the few smart barangays in Metro Manila.

With an approved budget of PHP138.8 million this year, Barangay San Antonio chairman Raymond Lising on Monday said they plan to allot PHP10 to PHP15 million for the project.

The barangay’s budget for this year is almost PHP6 million higher compared to last year’s PHP133 million.

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"We will allocate most of the budget to our project of transforming San Antonio, Pasig into a smart barangay. This is the direction that we are going," he said.

Lising said they are initially eyeing to install fiber optics which he said will greatly enhance the connectivity in the barangay.

"The existing closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras will also be turned into smart CCTVs, meaning they will have analytics," he said. "It will have the capability to track plate numbers, count the number of people, and facial recognition."

Video analytics use scientific algorithms to automatically detect people, vehicles or other objects viewed via your CCTV video images.

As part of this new initiative, Lising said the barangay will also go green as they will install solar panels at the barangay hall.

"For the sake of the environment, we will also install solar panels at the barangay hall. This is part of our smart barangay project, to use solar energy which is good for Mother Earth," Lising added.

The city council approved the budget of Barangay San Antonio which will come from the total estimated income that will be collected by the City Treasurer, Budget Officer, Punong Barangay, and the Barangay Treasurer.

This is in “compliance" with the provisions of the 1991 Local Government Code (RA 7160) and its Implementing Rules and Regulations. It is considered operative as of Jan. 1, 2020 on condition that all mandatory obligations would be complied with.

These obligations include the funds for Sangguniang Kabataan (10 percent); Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction Management (5 percent); Gender and Development Plan and Budget, Elderly, and Disabled (5 percent); Community Development; and 1 percent, Barangay Council for the Protection of Children (20 percent).

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Meanwhile, Lising thanked the Pasig City council for approving Barangay San Antonio's higher budget for 2020.

"Nagpapasalamat tayo na na-deliberate ng city council ang ating (We are thankful that the city council has finished their deliberations on the) proposed budget. We have been preparing this since January, it took two months para ma-approve. We are very excited to implement our plans this year for our constituents," Lising said.

He added that the budget will go a long way to provide more efficient services for more or less 20,000 residents.

Source: PNA