Government set to launch 'citizen's hotline'

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) reported that the government would establish a “citizen’s hotline” based in a call center that would provide vital information to the public including announcements on the suspension of classes during the rainy season.

The call center is mandated by the newly passed Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007 that would set up a single hotline that Filipinos could call up for concerns ranging from complaints and grievances to questions on government transactions.

CICT Commissioner Angelo Timoteo Diaz de Rivera said call center agents will answer calls and connect the clients to the concerned government agencies.

“The hotline would cover everything except for life-threatening concerns (that are being handled by the Philippine National Police hotline 117). Soon it will also cover students asking if they have classes in times of typhoons or even concerns as local as (locating) missing children,” De Rivera told reporters during a forum at EDSA Shangri-La Hotel in Pasig last Wednesday.

A simulation was conducted during the forum that gave the audience a better understanding of how the hotline works.

“By interconnecting and expanding the help lines of government offices, whether local or national, and giving the public a single, short and easy-to-remember assistance hotline, we will bring the promise of fast, efficient and effective public service closer to the people we serve,” Civil Service Commission Chairman Ricardo Saludo said.

“And as the government of the nation that is the preferred call center provider for the world, it is high time that we ourselves give our people the same courteous, caring and competent phone assistance which we offer the rest of the planet,” Saludo said.

He said the government is also exploring options to address the concerns of the public and provide real-time response to their needs.

De Rivera said the government would allocate P50 million for the project’s initial phase and the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) would set up the system. 

“The money will come from the E-Government Fund of the General Appropriations Act of 2009. The infrastructure will come from PLDT while the operating expenses will be from us,” he said.

He said 50 call center agents would handle the calls and connect the callers to the concerned government agency.

“In case of prank calls, PLDT has caller IDs to screen such calls,” he said.