‘Unreliable’ 911 national emergency hotline rapped for taxi driver’s death

Caption for photo: Netizen Cheeno Reyes’ Instagram Story showed a taxi driver who died in the hospital after collapsing inside a canteen. /Cheenee Reyes, Facebook post

MANILA, Philippines — Ricardo Camral, a taxi driver, was one of the thousands of Filipinos who were forced to leave their work due to the coronavirus disease pandemic.

Before Camral was laid off from work, it has been a habit of his to regularly dine at a canteen in Pasig, owned by Cheenee Reyes, before looking for passengers.

However, on that fateful day, Camral told Reyes that he has been fired from work, and asked if he could still eat in the canteen despite not having enough cash to buy food.

Camral was allowed inside the eatery but after having a few bites of the food, he collapsed. Nearby citizens immediately called for help, contacting the nation’s emergency hotline 911.

But rather than find immediate help, their impulse to help was met with frustration because of the “unreliable” emergency hotline.

“Sana maayos nila lalo na sa panahon ng pandemic. Nakakafrustrate isipin na unreliable ang emergency hotlines natin. Walang sumasagot sa 911!!! At sa 8888 sasabihan ka lang nila tumawag sa 911. Labo di ba?” Reyes wrote in her Facebook post on Wednesday, which has become viral with over 132,000 likes and 56,000 shares.

(I hope they will fix this especially at the time of pandemic. It is frustrating to think that emergency hotlines are unreliable. No one is answering at 911!! And if you reach 8888, they would just refer you to 911. Isn’t that unclear?)

https://www.facebook.com/1298951838/posts/10217298887806408/?d=n

Reyes said she tried to call 911 and other hotlines several times but when the emergency hotline finally responded to her concern, there were no ambulances available.

Left with no choice, Reyes’ family brought Camral to the nearby hospital for treatment, but too late. Camral was pronounced dead on arrival.

Asked about Camral’s cause of death, Reyes said they have yet to receive information about this from the family.

For those who would want to help, donations may be sent through Camral’s GCash account 09479317878, which is being handled by Camral’s wife.

More complaints vs 911

Other netizens on Facebook have claimed that the ‘911’ hotline is not reliable during emergencies, as it was not functioning when they tried to call for help.

A post by a Facebook user on Thursday claimed that a telecommunications lineman who was electrocuted while fixing internet lines in Quezon City was only rescued an hour after the incident because the 911 hotlines were not working.

It appears that the lineman accidentally touched a live wire.

“A line man from Globe was electrocuted by a live wire of Meralco while fixing the internet line. AND IT TOOK 65 MINUTES TO RESCUE HIM. FOR 65 MINUTES, his body was hanging on the electric post. We called 911, apparently, it’s NOT WORKING,” the netizen said in his post.

Eventually, the netizen said one resident called the Quezon City’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (DRRMO) to rescue the lineman. He said DRRMO personnel arrived around 12:18 p.m., and was brought down from the post around 12:40 p.m. — more than 20 minutes.

“We called the local Baranggay rescue unit but they don’t know what to do. They lack equipment to rescue him and suggested to wait for Meralco. There’s no sense of urgency and even had the guts to burn sticks of cigarettes while WAITING. (cc: Brgy. Culiat),” he claimed.

“Incident happened at 11:38 AM and the man was FINALLY rescued around 12:40 PM. A local rescue unit who doesn’t know how to rescue. And a rescue hotline that is not working. IMPRESSIVE GOVERNMENT!” he added.

A Davao project

The 911 hotline was formally installed by President Rodrigo Duterte as the country’s hotline number in 2018, replacing the now-defunct Patrol 117.

The 911 was a project that Duterte initiated back when he was Davao City mayor, which also served as a major point of his presidential campaign as Davao was supposedly the only city then with such services.

There were other talks of the 911 not functioning, like in one case where a man who collapsed in a canteen was dead on arrival at a hospital because aside from no one volunteered to bring him.

In a text message, Department of the Interior and Local Government spokesman and Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said the 911 hotline, under the control and supervision of the agency, is “fully operational.” He also said the department will look into these complaints.

EDV