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MANILA - An advanced monitoring system can help prevent another terror attack like the deadly blast at a church in Jolo, Sulu, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) said.

Speaking to ANC's "Future Perfect," Interior Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III said the "Safe Philippines" project can reduce crime prevention by receiving important information ahead of time.

The project, which is estimated to be ready for use in at least 2 years, aims to install thousands of surveillance cameras in Metro Manila and Davao City to bolster the country's security and safety.

"There's a claim that these people are from Abu Sayyaf. If we have this data of Abu Sayyaf suspects, because of the facial recognition thing, we'll be able to identify the potential crime," he said.

"If we have data information ahead of time, we could prevent such disaster," he added.

Densing also said that the winning bidder China International Telecommunication Construction Corporation would not have a hand in the security features of the project.

"The DICT will be part of the design process, so they can put in the necessary data security firewalls to be able to address these issues of China getting data from us. We will not let the China supplier to be able to have a hand in the security features of the security itself," he said.