DILG shuts down 911 hotline

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of the Interior and Local Government shut down the operations of the DILG’s Emergency 911 hotline after the National Call Center (NCC) was struck by the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 over the weekend.

All emergency telecommunicators went on home quarantine after two NCC employees tested positive for COVID-19, DILG Undersecretary and spokesman Jonathan Malaya said yesterday.

Malaya said the NCC would be closed for contact tracing, disinfection and installation of proper ventilation.

“Because of the pandemic, we are facing technical, manpower and operational challenges. But we are addressing these issues and we hope to partially operate by Sept. 7 and then fully operate by Sept. 16,” he said.

Malaya asked for public understanding as calls to 911 hotline will be rerouted to call centers managed by local government units as a temporary arrangement to serve the people.

According to the DILG, only eight local call centers will handle the rerouted calls.

The 911 hotline provides police, fire and emergency medical assistance as well as search and rescue operations.

Emergency 911 hotline executive director Diosdado Valeroso said they have been receiving an overwhelming number of calls.

In 2019 alone, the hotline received 18.4 million calls for help.

The NCC has only 80 emergency telecommunicators nationwide that answer calls from people seeking assistance 24 hours a day.

Malaya said they are planning to adopt work-from-home arrangement for a number of employees to answer to emergency calls and dispatch responders in case another COVID-19 infection hits the NCC.