911 Goes Nationwide Today August 1st 2016
August 1st 2016 marks a new era for the Philippine telecommunications, as it signals the nationwide application of the 911 hotline for emergency use. The Duterte Administration is behind this move to further enhance its measures to fight crime.
Pictured above: DAVAO City’s Central 911
The service started to work as early as 1:30 AM based on reports, with the emergency number able to accommodate every caller’s needs. This includes assistance to emergency, rescue, police, and fire services. DILG’s hotline 117 however is still in service, with police concerned calls able to be directed from 911.
At the time of this writing, the national 911 hotline already received thousands of calls. Majority of which are bogus, dropped calls, and even pranks. It is sad to say that only a handful of these calls are legitimate ones. The government are already looking for strict solutions regarding this matter. The government is also eyeing out future nationwide CCTV coverage to go in tandem with the 911 service.
Telecommunication providers fully supports the new national emergency number, with Globe being the only provider to charge 5 PHP per call to its subscribers. This isn’t that bad, considering that I can see it as a measure to stop pranksters dialing in. All in all this service is for the benefit of everyone especially to those who are in need of assistance.
This of course has nothing to do with PC gaming, and tech but this is one news we cannot let pass. So, fellow Filipinos – save that number on your mind right now. Who knows, you might need to call it some day.
