Prank calls swamp 911 hotline

Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, together with Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, announces the activation of the nationwide 911 hotline in a press briefing at Camp Crame on Monday, August 1, 2016. INQUIRER PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

“It will take some time to integrate the other emergency response like fire, medical and disaster because we are still building the capabilities of local government units to be able to provide and sustain such services,” he said.

EO for free calls

At the press briefing, Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said an executive order making the 911 hotline free of charge was being drafted. Telecommunications networks are currently charging P5 per call.

Given the prospects of more prank calls, Andanar said: “It is part of the civic responsibility of every Filipino to act responsibly and to help each other … We also expect the citizenry to be cooperative to the government.”

He urged local governments to cooperate, noting that some in Metro Manila were ready to have 911 calls diverted to them.

Calls to the former emergency hotline 117 would, for now, be diverted to 911, he said. Eventually, 117 will be deactivated.

Response time

At present, response time to nationwide 911 calls is five to 10 minutes, according to Dela Rosa. He said he hoped Davao City’s time of four to seven minutes could also be followed.

Another text hotline, 2286 or “Text Bato,” will be for information on narcotics operations or crimes, he said. The text hotline 2920 will eventually be subsumed under “Text Bato.”

“It’s not going to be a smooth sailing ahead. We will have a lot of problems. But then again, being the call center capital of Asia, even the world, I do believe we can solve all those problems,” Andanar said.