The provincial government and police of Ilocos Norte on Thursday launched the Provincial Incident Response Management 911 emergency phone system, allowing for quick response from public safety agencies and other law enforcement offices to anyone in the province.
In line with the vision of Gov. Imee R. Marcos toward making Ilocos Norte liveable, sustainable and resilient, the province has been coordinating with the Department of the Interior and Local Government to provide a Public Safety Answering Point as early as last July.
A provincial call center had been on deck for the past two years, Marcos added.
While waiting for the PSAP, Police Provincial Director Melencio Nartatez said the implementation of the 911 telephone number will lead to quicker response times and professionalizing the response team itself, while the call center uses state-of-the-art software and equipment to respond to emergencies.
“There’s no better time to start than now,” Nartatez said.
The PIRM 911 was launched with four temporary hotlines that are open 24/7, and managed by PNP staff and trained provincial government personnel. The hotlines are (077) 600-0948, (077) 772-1772, 0999-9997707 and 0917-1099911.
Agents also demonstrated a mock emergency call of a vehicular accident and recorded a response time of five minutes.
“We really want to respond in 5 to 7 minutes ideally,” Marcos said. “We’ll keep it down to seven minutes ideally because that’s the benchmark that has been established by Davao City, and I’m hopeful that this will actually come to flourish even with this makeshift system we use in the meantime.”
The Ilocos Norte Provincial Police has already disseminated the temporary hotlines to all the municipalities and cities of the province, Nartatez said. All the chiefs of police in the province are expected to disseminate the hotline numbers to the barangay levels as well.
