DILG says national emergency hotline 911 now operational

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine emergency hotline 911 returned to full operations after several of its COVID-19-infected personnel at the National Call Center (NCC) have recovered, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said Wednesday.

“Malugod pong naming ipinapaalam sa lahat na balik sa normal na po ang ating operasyon sa E911 hotline. Maraming salamat sa inyong pang-uunawa at dasal,  nalampasan na ng ating mga kasamahan sa National Call Center ang pagsubok na ito,” DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said in a statement.

(We are happy to announce that our E911 hotline has returned to normal operations. Thank you so much for all your understanding and prayers, our personnel at the National Call Center  surpassed this problem.)

Last August, the DILG announced the temporary closure of the NCC after five emergency call center agents tested positive for the virus. This prompted the agency to reroute the 911 hotline to eight local call centers.

On top of this, the DILG said 20 telecommunicators from the Bureau of Fire Protection also caused the delay in resumption of regular operations.

The Philippine emergency hotline 911 is a security and development program of DILG, which responds to people in distress.

JPV