Public urged: No prank calls to 911

MANILA, Philippines – Interior and Local Government Secretary Ismael Sueno urged the public yesterday to refrain from making prank calls to 911, the new emergency hotline of the country starting Aug. 1.

“For every abstained prank call, one life can be saved,” Sueno said.

It will also spare pranksters from possible phone charges.

Sueno said while President Duterte’s instruction is to make 911 – an international code – free of charge, all calls to 911 and its other emergency hotline, Patrol 117, would still be shouldered by callers.

This is until a new memorandum of agreement is signed by the agencies concerned and a new executive order is issued by the President.

He said responders from the Philippine National Police and the Bureau of Fire Protection should not be taken for fools so they could immediately take action.

Sueno said avoiding test and prank calls would shorten the response time for those who would really need assistance.

Sueno is also set to talk with Duterte to make an appeal to the public to use 911 only for emergency.

Department Undersecretary Jesus Hinlo Jr. cited the need to educate Filipinos on the use of 911 to avoid test and prank calls.

The DILG used to have only 117 as hotline for emergency cases. Records showed it received an average of 57 hung up and prank calls per hour last year.

With the launching of the new emergency hotline this August, the government expects a total of 2,730 hung up and prank calls out of the anticipated 3,003 calls per hour.

The shift to a new emergency hotline is an agreement between concerned government agencies such as DILG, Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT), National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and private sector partners mainly from the Foundation for Crime Prevention (FCP), including PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom.

At present, the 117 hotline system, which has 15 seats, 43 agents and database of PNP units will be utilized for 911 hotline operations starting next month and through the transition period yet to be identified.

Mon Isberto of PLDT-Smart Communications, who was present during the testing of the system on July 21, recommended that more local units connect to 911 national center so the dispatch load for call operators would be reduced and response to emergencies expedited.