Marcos orders DILG to shift funds to integrated 911 system

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered the restoration of funds reduced from the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) information technology (IT) program and the removal of its P500 million intelligence fund, according to DILG Secretary Jonvic Remulla.

During a Palace briefing on Tuesday, Remulla said the budget will instead be allocated for the launch and bidding process of the country’s integrated 911 system.

READ: Philippines’ 911 hotline hounded by prank calls – authorities

“As instructed by the President, our budget secretary will revert the IT budget and remove the additional P500 million intelligence funds,” he said partly in Filipino.

Remulla said they are eyeing deploying call center agents, dispatch personnel, fire trucks, body cameras, and other necessary equipment for responding to callers.

“The 911 system is language-sensitive throughout the Philippines. So, if you’re in Ilocos, an Ilocano speaker will answer you,” he also said.

“We will implement a state-of-the-art system according to world standards,” Remulla added.

The DILG is targeting to launch the integrated 911 system in Greater Metro Manila, Cebu, and Mindanao by June.

It will be launched in other regions in the following months, Remulla said.

However, he said prank calls are a significant challenge for the integrated 911 system, particularly since the national ID is not yet linked to its holder’s cellular numbers.

“The problem, based on the experience of all 911 centers in the Philippines, is that 60 percent of calls are prank calls. So, the first responders will likely be on motorcycles or barangay personnel, or they may ask the caller to go on video to see what is really happening,” Remulla said.

READ: Police respond to 78% of 911 calls within five minutes – PNP

Last week, the Philippine National Police Communications and Electronics Service said they responded to 78.1 percent of 5,187 emergency calls within five minutes from Aug. 8, 2024, to Jan. 5, 2025.

Police officers responded to 4,050 of these calls within an average of 3.25 minutes, while 1,137 calls had an average response time of 12.86 minutes.