Manila opens own version of ‘911’ response center

MANILA, Philippines—Manila is opening its P176-million command center, which will help boost the capital’s crime-fighting capability and provide a more efficient emergency response.

The Emergency Response Assistance Program, touted to be the most high-tech in the country and patterned after the US’ 911 emergency response system, is equipped with the latest technology that will help the capital mitigate traffic, deter crimes and provide better and faster emergency response.

Of the 350 high-definition wireless cameras planned to be installed all over the city, 180 are already in place. These cameras will provide the city government real-time updates on traffic situation, among others.

And unlike closed-circuit television cameras, these cameras are capable of facial recognition and can zoom into license plates. Footages are also recorded and stored in servers for future reference or investigations.

“It is a product of a lot of research. We had three city models for the command center—Makati, Pasig and Davao,” Manila City Hall’s IT consultant Don Quintos said. “We improved on those models using different technologies [available and are used] in the US and Singapore.”

The command center, a brainchild of Vice Mayor Isko Moreno, will also employ 90 agents who will work on three shifts round-the-clock. They will take in disaster-, medical- and crime-related calls. Agents can provide assistance and dispatch the closest first responders to cases as serious as a chemical attack or as minor as being stuck in an elevator.

There are at least 20 first responder units that are on standby.

Quintos said the command center, located on the city hall’s fourth floor and housed in an at least 300-square-meter space that was once a stock room, took only three months to materialize—from planning to construction.

Currently, the city government’s first-version partnered app with the command center, Go Manila, provides real-time, live feed traffic updates.