If you own a motorcycle or know someone who does, or are concerned about the welfare of Quezon City’s millions of pages of public documents since its inception and until today, or continue to be worried about the possible impact of Influenza A (H1N1), read on as ScoutAreaOnline.com brings you the latest news in and about Quezon City.

 QCPD to Intensify Anti-Motorbike Theft Campaign

Determined to do away with QC’s unwanted tag of being the Philippines’s “Carnapping Capital”, the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) has extended its crackdown on auto thieves to those preying on motorcycles and similar two-wheeled vehicles.

In a recent statement, QCPD Director P/O Supt. Elmo San Diego has ordered an increase in the visibility of police personnel throughout the city, with a special emphasis on commercial and crime-prone areas such as Cubao, Novaliches, Timog, and Tomas Morato. The latter two are part of the Scout Area and of Area 19.

The superintendent has also asked business establishments in QC to set aside parking space for motorbikes and scooters. Recently codified in a city ordinance, the parking spaces are intended to help increase security and prevent the obstruction of pedestrian and vehicular traffic.

QCPD data indicates that at least six motorcycles have already been stolen since the beginning of June. The affected motorbikes were parked in Talipapa, Batasan, Cubao, Kamuning, and Galas.

“We want to prevent these incidents of motorcycle theft from going unabated in our AOR (area of responsibility), thus, more police presence is necessary,” San Diego said in the statement, adding that the QCPD was putting forth its best effort and that they were already following at least one lead on the perpetrators.

QC Hall Studying Construction of Storage Building for QC Documents

The QC government is looking into the possibility of constructing a depository for city hall records and documents within the Quezon City Hall compound.

In a statement issued after the regular executive meeting, Mayor Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte, Jr., said that he wanted the building put up to protect the aforementioned documents from wear and tear. “What we want is a fireproof building that could also serve as an archive for the city.”

In a related development, the QC information technology team has recommended the conversion of city hall documents, currently in microfilm format, to digital, in order to allow a more permanent archiving of these documents. QC currently has over 500 rolls of microfilm available, of which 300 contain the city’s records and certificates of births, deaths, and marriages.

Paul Injeda, current acting head of the city’s information technology development office, has also recommended putting the city’s data and documents on backup tapes in order to minimize data loss, particularly in case of fire. He cited the May 6 fire that gutted the Quezon City Hall annex as a considerable loss in terms of equipment and, in particular, office forms and records, totaling about 8.3 million pesos.