Philippines’ 911 hotline hounded by prank calls – authorities

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ 911 hotline has been hounded by prank calls since its new system was launched on August 8, authorities said.

According to the data of the Emergency 911 National Office released Friday, of the 30,000 average daily calls received through the hotline in the last seven days, only around 700 are considered “legitimate calls.”

For this reason, Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. warned prank callers that authorities could easily track them and slap them with criminal charges.

“So please don’t do prank calls because we will file charges against you,” Abalos said partly in Filipino during an ambush interview following the simulation Emergency 911 response system in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

“This (hotline) is for efficient resolving of accident or crimes,” Abalos said. “Huwag ninyo babayuhin ang sistemang ito (Don’t made a mockery of this system).”

READ: Modernized emergency 911 system seen to weed out prank callers

FILE PHOTO: The 911 Command Center of Olongapo City handles emergency calls from its residents. (Photo courtesy of Olongapo City Information Center)

Emergency 911 National Office Executive Director Francis Fajardo said Wednesday that the patented call handling system by Next Generation Advanced (NGA) 911 could deter prank callers as it could detect locations more accurately.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Rommel Marbil said they are now eyeing the implementation of the three-minute response time to emergencies.

Marbil said one of the steps needed to achieve this was to bolster the connection of command centers.

“Right now it’s only in Metro Manila and ‘yung ating PCC (PNP Command Center) but remember there is a command center in Quezon City, different districts right now, [in] Makati and that’s a future we are looking for,” Marbil noted.