Emergency Hotline 117

Last August 28, I was driving my parents, my wife and my daughter home from our regular Sunday family get-together when traffic slowed us down at the northbound lane of Quirino Avenue after the intersection of Pedro Gil street in Paco, Manila. Traffic volume was relatively light because of the time (it was about 10:00 in the evening) and I couldn’t think of what was causing the slow traffic flow except perhaps for a flooded area or an accident, especially after the heavy downpour earlier that night. All I could see ahead of me were cars avoiding something on the road.

When I finally got ahead, I saw a man, about 25-30 years old wearing a dark blue sleeveless shirt and green short pants running barefoot in middle lane of the wet road, and stumbling repeatedly and getting up again only to run and stumble again. At first I thought he was just a drug-crazed junkie or a suicidal drunk and continued to drive pass him. But when we got alongside him, my wife Shawie saw that he had blood oozing from his nape and he had blood on the right side of his face. He looked like he was stabbed in a fight or was hit from behind by a blunt instrument and we assumed he was running away from his attackers or running home, wherever home is.

I drove to the side of the road, stopped and dialed 117 (the police emergency number) on my mobile phone, which recorded the time at 10:02:40 PM. A female operator answered at the other end and immediately asked details about the incident including the exact location and the description of the wounded man. At about that time, the man had run towards our car which was parked at the lane across the Philippine Columbian Association but he stumbled in front of the old Philippine National Railways (PNR) train station before he could reach it. When he attempted to stand up again, my mom became frightened and admonished me to drive away.

At 10:07:32 PM, I got a call from the female operator (029394247) and she asked for my name. Perhaps because of the urgency of my call, she forgot to ask for any identification or perhaps they were just confirming whether they received a prank call or not. Whatever the reason, I find it disappointing to note that five minutes have passed without any apparent action. By this time, I was driving across Nagtahan Bridge in Pandacan.

At 10:12:06 PM, I got another call from the same operator and this time she patched me up with a policeman on a three-way conference call. The cop asked me details about the incident including the exact location and the description of the bloodied man. When I got to the part where I was telling him that the man had stumbled in front of the old PNR train station in Paco, he blurted out something like "Ay, sa Paco station ba? Sa Station 10 yan, eh…" (Oh, did you say the Paco train station? It’s under the jurisdiction of Police Station 10.) He repeated the same line to the operator who insisted that she was instructed beforehand to call the station that cop was in. He nonchalantly replied "Sa Station 10 kasi yan, eh…Tawagan mo sila…" (It’s Police Station 10’s jurisdiction. Call them instead.) Even though she sounded despondent, the female operator politely said farewell to the unconcerned cop and hung up her phone which cut my line as well.

Sanamagan! My apologies for borrowing Max Soliven’s signature expression but I couldn’t help myself. Is this the way cops respond to an emergency? Can’t they radio the other station to respond instead of ordering the 117 operator? Has the Philippine National Police (PNP) segregated the Metropolis into sub-jurisdictions where police units cannot assist outside their designated areas? Whatever happened to sending radio messages to police units nearest the emergency and asking them to respond immediately? Is this the response that concerned citizens will receive when they call 117, which the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary Angelo Reyes is proudly advertising as the local version of America’s 911 Emergency Hotline? PNP chief Arturo Lomibao should look into this matter immediately, before he looses face or before he retires, whichever comes first.

You may ask "Why didn’t you get down from your car and help the poor guy?" Well, to tell you frankly, we wanted to but we didn’t want to get into unforeseen danger. You see, I was driving a new 2005 BMW 325 (it’s not mine, it’s a media test drive vehicle that was lent to me for the weekend) and we weren’t sure whether the whole thing was a real emergency or a ploy to get motorists to stop. If we stopped to administer First Aid (my wife is a non-practicing nurse and the Bimmer is equipped with a First Aid kit) and the cops arrived, the bloodied man might just suddenly say that our car hit him and that he wants compensation. Or he might be in cohorts with fake (or even real) responding cops to extort money from unsuspecting motorists. Or it might be a car jack ploy. Or his attackers could just suddenly appear and gang up on us. And even if it was a genuine emergency, it would be very inconvenient to be involved because the cops will ask us to stay until they can make out a police report, which, based on previous experience, will take until after midnight. Or the next morning, if the guy dies.

Add to the fact that I was with my parents, my pregnant wife and my 5-year-old daughter, I hope you could understand why I wouldn’t want to stop and expose them to any threat or danger while I tried to play Good Samaritan. I know a little self-defense and I can definitely run very fast but what about my companions? I’m no Kwai Chai Cain and I’m certainly not a bulletproof monk. If we were mobbed or ganged upon, I couldn’t possibly defend all of us from bodily harm. Besides, we pay taxes to have policemen, paramedics, firemen and the Emergency Hotline 117 to handle situations like this. If and when they do work, that is.

I finished writing this column at about 3:00 in the afternoon the following day (August 29, Monday) and I never got another call from the female 117 operator. I don’t know if the bloodied man survived or if the cops responded at all or if they were able to find him and save him if they did respond, albeit a bit too late. Guess I just have to monitor the news to find out, if my media colleagues in the police beat got wind of this incident, that is. Sanamagan!

Here are some backseat reactions from last week.

Buses should be strictly disciplined at EDSA during rush hour especially at the Kamias area. Their arrogance is such a pain in the neck. — 09198464814

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Attention Mayor Binay of Makati: Chino Roces Avenue is on repair the whole year round. When will it be finished? — 09178584476

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RJTV’s Mike Unson is right — attach a dead violator to the Walang Tawiran-Nakakamatay signs and maybe the pedestrians will get the hint. — 09178459239

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Attention Mayor Tinga/Chairman Fernando: The counterflow of motorists along C5/Taguig must be stop now. Please apprehend violators. — 09189489737

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Attention LTO-Muntinlupa: Is there anything you can do about PUJs with no headlights plying the route of Alabang-Muntinlupa? — 09178036271

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Daily traffic is bad along Katipunan-Marcos Highway because of PUJs occupying up to three lanes while waiting for passengers. And all this happens in front of an MMDA outpost! — 09178393826

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Attention MMDA: Please open the intersection of the MIA Road and Roxas Boulevard. Traffic is bad because it is now a bus terminal. — 09192880497

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Those concrete roadblocks are sure death traps! Perhaps placing two or three reflectorized blocks in front of them is necessary? — 09175337998

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To Mr. Manny de los Reyes: Your "Tips On Buying Used Cars Part 2" was extremely informative! — 09175115488

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I have a Revo with a 2-liter diesel engine with 85,000 km. It is well maintained but I have a problem with the worsening harshness and noise. Please help! — 09209270648 (Much as we’d like to help, we still say that your best bet would still be to send it to an authorized Toyota dealership.)

Speak out, be heard and keep those text messages coming in. To say your piece and become a "Backseat Driver", text PHILSTAR<space>FB<space>MOTORING<space>YOUR MESSAGE and send to 2333 if you’re a Globe or Touch Mobile subscriber or 334 if you’re a Smart or Talk ’n Text subscriber or 2840 if you’re a Sun Cellular subscriber. Please keep your messages down to a manageable 160 characters. You may send a series of comments using the same parameters.