The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) visited the City of Baguio’s Smart City Command and Control Center at the Baguio Convention and Cultural Center last 28 April.2023 as part of the site visits in relation to the Regional Accounts of Philippines.

Information System Analyst II (ISA II) Adam Bert A. Lacay facilitated the orientation on the Smart City Command and Control Center. The command center uses state-of-the-art Cisco technology that will revolutionize how the city manages its critical assets, increase capacity to prevent and respond to emergencies and disasters, preserve the environment, speed up government services, improve social and health-care systems and protect lives and properties.

ISA II Lacay discussed the Project Lightning of the National Transmission Corporation (NTC), a project in partnership with Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO), which aims to provide gigabit-speed broadband service over the power lanes. This was offered to the city to provide internet connectivity, especially in the remote areas of the city where internet connectivity has challenges. At the moment, the extra bandwidth that the Smart City Command Center uses is extended to the Philippine Military Academy that enables them to access internet with 80 megabytes per second (mbps) compared to the 5mbps that they currently have with PLDT.

He also introduced the 911 feature of the Smart City Command Center where it is currently active in responding to emergencies and that they are very serious in dealing with those making prank calls. High-definition cameras were installed in many parts of the city where it is manned by artificial intelligence for detecting traffic violations. He promoted the mobile application “Baguio In My Pocket” that aims to provide an all-in-one digital platform to provide key services to the people of the city.

(SGD)
ALDRIN FEDERICO R. BAHIT, JR.
(Chief Statistical Specialist)
Officer-in-Charge