EMERGENCY HOTLINE ACTIVATION. Alaminos City, Pangasinan Mayor Arth Bryan Celeste (center) receives the activation certificate of the 911 emergency hotline from Department of the Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Juan Victor Llamas and Emergency 911 National Office executive director Francis Fajardo (2nd and 3rd from left) at the convention center on Tuesday (Sept. 10, 2024). Calls to the hotline by residents who are subscribers of Smart and PLDT will now be directly received by the emergency center of the local government. (PNA photo by Hilda Austria)
ALAMINOS CITY, Pangasinan – Calls of residents here to the 911 hotline will now be directly connected to the local government unit’s emergency response team, instead of the central office emergency center in Manila.
This, after the city government activated on Tuesday its 911 emergency hotline, which is powered by Next Generation Advanced (NGA) system.
Initially, only calls using Smart and PLDT lines will be directly connected to 911.
Mayor Arth Bryan Celeste, in a press conference, said the hotline can be easily memorized and get faster responses.
"Napakaganda ng setup dahil lahat ng tawag recorded at may (The set up is good since all the calls will be recorded and there is a) general location. Gone are the days of memorizing long numbers," he said.
The local government has assigned three operators who will handle the calls 24 hours a day on shifts.
They will be working with the Public Order and Safety Office and the local police.
During the same event, NGA Philippines manager Robert Andrew Llaguno said the first phase of the project involves tapping all telecommunications companies to allow their subscribers to directly call the command center of Alaminos.
In the succeeding weeks, the local government unit’s monitoring and internet management systems will be integrated, he said.
"We would provide location of the caller and proximity of responders. Integrate our system to closed circuit television cameras of Alaminos," he said.
Department of the Interior and Local Government Undersecretary for External, Legal, and Legislative Affairs Juan Victor Llamas said the activation of the hotline is relevant, essential and life-saving, and would further boost development in the city.
"We are encouraging LGUs (local government units) to step up because we need this kind of technology since we know we experience a lot of disasters," he said. (PNA)
